Cuba's Power Struggles Amid Oil Blockade

Cuba's national electric grid suffered its second collapse in a week on Saturday, as the country grapples with the impact of a U.S.-imposed oil blockade. Officials report that a total disconnection of the electric power system occurred at 18:32 local time, leaving millions in the dark.

This marks the third major outage this month. The island's electric grid went offline previously on March 4 after a major thermoelectric plant failure. On Monday, another unexplained total blackout occurred, escalating Cuba's electricity crisis amid its ongoing struggle with decrepit infrastructure.

These blackouts coincide with heightened geopolitical tensions. After the U.S. administration ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a key oil provider to Cuba, a stringent oil embargo was enforced. This has further strained the country's power capabilities as global oil prices soar amidst the U.S.-Israel and Iran conflict. Meanwhile, Cuba continues to attribute these failures to the U.S. embargo, which the U.S. blames on Cuba's economic model.