Thu Dec 05 14:30:00 UTC 2024: ## Cuba’s Power Grid Collapses Again, Plunging Nation into Darkness
**HAVANA** – Cuba’s national power grid suffered a complete collapse early Wednesday morning, leaving millions of citizens without electricity. The failure, the latest in a series of recent outages, was triggered by the shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras power plant in Matanzas, the country’s largest electricity producer. The plant went offline around 2 a.m. local time (7 a.m. GMT).
The Ministry of Energy and Mines confirmed the collapse on social media, stating that crews are working to restore power. Reports from Havana describe the capital as almost entirely dark, with electricity visible only in a limited number of large hotels and government buildings. Social media posts indicate widespread blackouts across the entire island, though the government has yet to officially confirm the extent of the outage.
Power restoration began gradually in some areas, including Havana, later in the morning. Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy announced on television that full service is expected to be restored by Thursday.
This latest failure follows a string of grid collapses in recent months, exacerbated by dwindling fuel supplies and the impacts of hurricanes Oscar and Raphael. The government has attributed the ongoing power crisis to difficulties securing fuel for its aging power plants, citing the long-standing US trade embargo as a contributing factor. However, the crisis is also intertwined with a broader economic downturn characterized by soaring inflation and severe shortages of essential goods.
First Piper 