Overview
- State operator Unión Eléctrica said a fault in Unit 6 at the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant triggered a cascading shutdown across the grid on March 21.
- Authorities brought microsystems online and restarted select plants, with Energas gas units at Varadero and Boca de Jaruco and the Hanabanilla hydro station generating as thermal units were sequenced back.
- By Sunday afternoon two-thirds of Havana had service, and the utility later reported the national grid was reconnected overnight after a phased restoration.
- Cuban officials say no oil tankers have arrived since January 9, leaving distributed diesel and fuel‑oil engines largely idle and complicating recovery from repeated large-scale outages.
- Havana blames U.S. restrictions for blocking fuel supplies as Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossio says the military is prepared for possible aggression yet remains open to negotiations, while outages disrupt services and spark street protests.