Cuba was plunged into a nationwide blackout on Friday after the island’s biggest power plant failed, the energy ministry said, coming on the heels of weeks of extended outages across the economically devastated country.
“The system was left without power nationwide” after the unexpected shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras power plant, Lazaro Guerra, director general of electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, told state television.
When the power plant shut down, “the system collapsed,” he said, adding that the government was working to restore service as soon as possible to the island’s 11 million people.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero declared an “energy emergency” after weeks of disruptions, which saw some provinces without power for up to 20 hours a day.
He suspended all non-essential public sector activities in order to prioritize electricity supply to homes.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel said Friday on social media platform X that the government would “not rest” until the lights were back on and the energy crisis resolved.
