Cuba

Cuba Hit by Fourth Nationwide Blackout Since July

Is Cuba's blackout crisis caused by U.S. sanctions or decades of government mismanagement?

Published 3 hours ago

Cuba Hit by Fourth Nationwide Blackout Since July

Story

Above: A man bicycles through a darkened street in Havana, Cuba on Aug. 1. Image credit: Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images

The Spin

Establishment-critical narrative

The U.S. oil blockade on Cuba is the driving force behind the island's cascading blackouts, leaving 10 million people without power for the fourth time since July. Trump's embargo cut off Venezuela and Mexico as fuel suppliers, gutting an already strained grid with no replacement energy source in sight. Ramped-up sanctions have also forced foreign companies out, making recovery nearly impossible.

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Pro-establishment narrative

Cuba's blackout crisis runs far deeper than any outside pressure — decades of regime mismanagement, Soviet-era equipment and chronic underinvestment created a grid that was always going to fail. The thermoelectric plants are over 30 years old with almost no maintenance, and the government is only now scrambling to allow basic foreign investment in fuel distribution. This is a structural collapse built by the Cuban government itself.

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