Cuba is going through the worst moment of its already prolonged energy crisis. The blackouts, which had worsened throughout 2025, escalated even more in recent days, while electricity generation has continued to plummet.
In the midst of this dark scenario, in which street protests have also been on the rise, the Government once again blamed the United States sanctions and clearly stated that without “the end of the blockade” it will not be possible to permanently “stabilize” the deteriorated National Electric System (SEN).
“The instability of the electrical system is a visible symptom of an external financial cause: the blockade that prevents Cuba from freely managing the monetary resources necessary to purchase fuel, spare parts and technical services,” the Electrical Union (UNE) pointed out in its networks*.
The entity stated that, even with the application of “own solutions—such as the expansion of solar energy and repairs with national means—the lasting stability of the system will depend on the cessation of financial sanctions.”
In another post*, listed a group of elements that, according to his presentation, demonstrate the “causality” between the lack of foreign currency resulting from the sanctions and the increasingly worse blackouts.
Among these, he said that “external financial restrictions” prevent “paying for regular fuel shipments,” while the difficulties in transferring payments and mobilizing financial resources abroad threaten the solution of breakdowns, “the modernization of the energy park and the acquisition of technologies.”
“Without the end of the financial blockade, there will be no permanent energy stability,” concluded the UNE, whose arguments subordinate the solution to the energy crisis to the political will of Washington and, with this, deepen the uncertainty about the condition and future performance of the SEN.
Critical situation and another negative record
For now, electricity generation on the island is experiencing critical days. The combination of a high fuel deficit and the continuous breakdowns of thermal units brought the maximum damages above 2000 MW several times in recent days and even exceeded 2100 MW to establish new negative marks.
The last of them arrived this mondaywhen the impact rose to 2185 MW at 6:10 PM, to leave behind the 2152 MW of last December 3.
Since the weekend, a succession of breakdowns in thermoelectric plants along with more than 1,000 MW without production in distributed generation due to lack of fuel and lubricants have marked another disastrous peak of blackouts, with more than 30 and 40 hours in a row in different circuits and territories, according to official reports and network users.
This Monday, at a press conference, energy sector authorities confirmed the current bleak panorama of the SENwhich had a dozen blocks disconnected simultaneously, due to “failures such as the beginning of fire in boilers, compressor breakages, problems in condensers and failures in regulation systems.”
However, they anticipated the synchronization of some of them in the short term, which — they said — should increase availability during the day and the nighttime peak and, in this way, allow “greater rotation of the circuits.”
They also assured that Céspedes 4 and Santa Cruz 2—two of the units whose maintenance has taken much longer than initially estimated—must be connected before the end of 2025. This, together with other incorporations in solar energy, should contribute to “greater stability in service” for the beginning of next year.
For now, the entry in the last hours of Santa Cruz 1, Felton 1 and Renté 5 should raise availability to 1,300 MW this Tuesday — a figure still very deficient, although higher than the barely 1047 MW of yesterday night— and “reduce” the deficit to 1900 MW at the nighttime peak, if another breakage does not distort the forecast again.
Minister in office and citizen protests
The current peak in blackouts comes days after the minister of the sector, Vicente de la O Levy, told the official press that 2026 would be “difficult, although slightly better” in terms of electricity availability.
In his statements, the owner recognized that the lack of fuel is the Achilles heel of the SEN, which has suffered several partial and total collapse events in the last year, something that – he admitted – will not be resolved next year.
He also stated that work would continue on the growth of renewable energy, especially photovoltaic solar, and on old thermoelectric plants, with repairs that seek to increase their performance and stability.
After the worsening of the crisis in recent days, information circulated on the networks about the alleged dismissal of De la O Levy. However, this was officially denied.
On your Facebook profile, the UNE asserted that the minister “continues to perform his duties normally and work to improve the situation in the electricity sector.”
The denial, which generated many critical comments towards the minister, the UNE and the Government in general, coincides with the growing questioning and citizen anxiety over the energy crisis and the government’s inability to confront it.
This has been translated in recent months not only in the numerous criticisms and comments on the issue that are published on the networks, but also in an increase in street protests throughout the country, which this Monday had several episodes in Havana and other towns in provinces such as Guantánamo and Las Tunas.
In the Havana city, communities in several municipalities, such as Marianao, San Miguel del Padrón, Diez de Octubre and Regla, were the scene of banging of pots and pans, shouting and, in the case of places such as the Zamora neighborhood, bonfires and the demolition of containers, according to publications on social networks.
The blackouts, which in previous years were minimal in Havana while already severely punishing all of Cuba, have also become increasingly longer in the capital.
This Monday the maximum impact in the city was 485 MW, more than a fifth of the entire country’s deficit, and for today the provincial electric company announced that “it is expected that, like previous days, the usual schedule cannot be met.”
* The two UNE publications about the impossibility of lastingly “stabilizing” the SEN without “the end of the embargo” were deleted hours after their publication, amid an avalanche of criticism of them on social networks.
