Cuba suffered its third nationwide power blackout of 2026 on July 6, leaving nearly 10 million people without electricity. The collapse of the dilapidated grid has been exacerbated by a U.S. fuel blockade imposed by President Donald Trump in January, which has choked off oil imports and triggered a severe humanitarian crisis. While President Miguel Díaz-Canel blamed U.S. strangulation and urged angry pot-banging protesters to blame Washington, the U.S. demanded deep political reforms as private bilateral talks remain stalled.
Cuba nationwide power blackout
- ▪The July 6, 2026 blackout represents the third nationwide power outage in Cuba in 2026 and the eighth since late 2024
- ▪Cuba suffered a nationwide power blackout on July 6, 2026, leaving the island's population of approximately 9.6 million to 10 million people without electricity
U.S. fuel blockade
- ▪U.S. President Donald Trump imposed an oil blockade on Cuba in January 2026, cutting off fuel shipments from Venezuela and threatening tariffs on other nations providing oil to the island
- ▪Since the U.S. fuel blockade began in January 2026, only one Russian oil tanker has been permitted by Washington to dock in Cuba
Power restoration efforts
- ▪By late afternoon on July 6, 2026, Cuba's grid operator UNE was able to restore power to only 1% of the demand in the capital city of Havana
- ▪Cuba restored electricity across approximately three-quarters of its territory more than 24 hours after the nationwide blackout occurred
Cuban government response
- ▪Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel urged Cuban citizens to direct their anger and pot-banging protests toward the United States government rather than the Cuban administration
- ▪Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel accused the United States of attempting to incite social unrest by strangling Cuba's fuel supply through a genocidal energy blockade
Humanitarian crisis conditions
- ▪The energy crisis has forced Cuba to implement rolling power cuts lasting over 30 hours at a stretch in parts of Havana and over 70 hours in some rural areas
- ▪The fuel shortage has severely disrupted public transportation, halted tens of thousands of surgeries, and led to critical shortages of food, drinking water, and medicine
U.S.-Cuba reform negotiations
- ▪The U.S. State Department dismissed Cuba's recently unveiled free-market reforms as superficial smoke signals, demanding more substantial economic and political changes
- ▪Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez stated that recent private talks between the United States and Cuba have shown no progress toward resolving the impasse
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