Overview
- The national grid went down around 6:38 p.m. local time on March 21, marking the second full-island outage in days and the seventh in roughly 18 months.
- The power operator reported that a failure in Unit 6 at the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant triggered a cascading collapse across the system.
- Authorities initiated staged restoration using microsystems to supply hospitals, water services and food distribution, with gas plants at Varadero and Boca de Jaruco operating and the Hanabanilla hydro unit generating.
- Distributed diesel and fuel-oil generators remain largely idle due to a lack of fuel, with no tanker deliveries reported since January 9 and officials attributing the shortfall to U.S. measures.
- Prolonged shortages have led to gasoline rationing, a suspension of diesel sales and service cuts, and recent outages have sparked street protests in Havana and other cities.