Cuba restores power after 29-hour blackout amid US oil blockade

Al Jazeera
March 18, 2026
3 min read

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Cuba's 29-hour nationwide blackout was caused by fuel shortages linked to the U.S. oil embargo, affecting 10 million people.

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Cuba's national power grid came back online after a 29-hour blackout that left the island's 10 million residents without electricity. The outage stemmed from fuel shortages exacerbated by the longstanding U.S. embargo on oil sales to Cuba, which constrains the country's ability to generate power. The blackout underscored Cuba's chronic energy crisis, rooted in decades of economic isolation and its dependence on imported fuel to operate aging thermal power plants. The restoration of power followed emergency rationing measures and marked a temporary reprieve for a nation struggling with repeated grid failures. Cuba's power infrastructure remains vulnerable to future disruptions as long as fuel scarcity persists.

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