The Cuba's Ministry of Energy and Mines reported a new total disconnection of the National Electric System this Friday and immediately activated emergency recovery protocols to restore electricity nationwide.

The U.S. blockade causes economic losses and makes it difficult for preventive maintenance of thermal power plants, which has been joined this year by the Trump administration’s energy blockade, which prevents the arrival of fuels on the island. Photo: EFE.

The Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines reported a new total disconnection of the National Electric System this Friday and immediately activated emergency recovery protocols to restore electricity nationwide.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem) and the Electric Union (UNE, in Spanish) confirmed that adverse weather conditions in the central region of the island, followed by a severe oscillation in the transmission lines, caused the complete shutdown of the National Electric System (SEN, in Spanish).

The National Electric System of Cuba experienced a total disconnection on July 10 at 4:30 P.M. local time, prompting the Ministry of Energy and Mines to activate emergency recovery protocols to restore electricity across the Caribbean nation.

RELATED: Global Figures Call for Action Against Cuba Blockade

Immediately after the failure, technical teams activated recovery protocols to restore the grid. Authorities reported that three key thermoelectric generation plants -Block 6 of the Nuevitas plant, Block 4 of the Céspedes plant in Cienfuegos and the Antonio Guiteras plant in Matanzas- are prepared to begin their startup processes as soon as they receive initial electricity from local microsystems.

Se ha producido una desconexión total del Sistema Eléctrico.
Se activan los protocolos para comenzar recuperación.

— Ministerio de Energía y Minas Cuba 🇨🇺 (@EnergiaMinasCub) July 10, 2026

Text reads: “There has been a total disconnect of the electrical system. Protocols are activated to start recovery.”

This event occurred just four days after a previous system-wide failure on July 6. During that prior disconnection, electrical engineers managed to reconnect the national grid within 36 hours.

To achieve this, technicians utilized decentralized microsystems, also known as generation islands, which serve two critical functions: maintaining power to vital services such as hospitals, telecommunications and food production facilities, and providing the initial electrical charge required to restart the large thermal units that form the backbone of the Cuban power grid.

Ya estamos trabajando en el restablecimiento del SEN 🇨🇺
una compleja situación en medio de todas las dificultades que enfrentamos cotidianamente.
Los trabajadores eléctricos y petroleros dignos y comprometidos con #Cuba se fajan cada día con el apagón.
Aquí no se rinde nadie!

— Vicente de la O Levy (@VicentedelaO2) July 10, 2026

Text reads: “We are already working on restoring the SEN (National Electric System), a complex situation in the midst of all the difficulties we face daily. The decent and committed electric and oil workers are suffering every day with the blackout. Nobody gives up here!”

Criminal Energy Blockade

The structural vulnerability of the Cuban power grid is a direct consequence of the over 60-years economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed by the United States. This unilateral policy inflicts massive economic losses on the Caribbean country, hindering the acquisition of essential spare parts and preventing the necessary preventive maintenance of its aging thermoelectric plants.

The situation has severely worsened this year following the implementation of a strict energy blockade by the administration of Donald Trump. In January 2026, Trump signed an Executive Order designating Cuba as an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security. This order threatened to impose heavy tariffs on goods from any country that provides oil, directly or indirectly, to the Caribbean nation.

Consequently, Cuba’s fuel supply has been almost completely severed. Throughout 2026, the Cuba has received only one shipment of crude oil, delivered by the Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin in March.

This extreme fuel deficit has crippled the national economy, leading to daily power outages exceeding 20 hours in some regions, while severely impacting public transportation, water distribution, education and healthcare, where thousands of patients remain on surgical waiting lists. Internationally, this energy siege is condemned as a form of illegal collective punishment and a grave crime against humanity against the Cuban people.

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