Cuba suffers nationwide power outage, plunging millions into darkness

Cuba’s power grid collapsed Friday night, triggering a nationwide power outage and plunging its more than 10 million people into darkness.

“At around 8:15 p.m. tonight, a failure at the Diezmero substation caused a significant loss of generation in the west of #Cuba and with it the failure of the National Electric System,” Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines said in a statement.

Efforts to restore service are underway, the ministry added.

It marks the latest in a series of failures on the Caribbean island struggling with creaking infrastructure, natural disasters and economic turmoil.

Cuban officials have previously blamed US economic sanctions, which increased under the previous administration of President Donald Trump, for further crippling an already ailing energy sector.

Critics also fault a lack of investment in infrastructure by the communist government.

For nearly a week in October, most of Cuba suffered near-total blackouts, the worst energy outages in decades.