Cuba is experiencing a new massive blackout this Tuesday following the complete disconnection of the National Electric System at 11:05 AM, as confirmed by the Unión Eléctrica through its official channel.
The state media Cubadebate also disseminated the notice: "We inform you that a new disconnection of the National Electric System has occurred."
This blackout is the fifth total outage recorded so far in 2026 and the tenth in approximately 24 months, making the energy situation in Cuba an unprecedented crisis in the island's recent history.
The most alarming aspect is the speed at which the outages are occurring: the fourth total blackout of the year occurred on July 10, just four days earlier, caused by a failure in the 220 kV transmission line between Santa Clara and Sancti Spíritus.
At the same time, that event had occurred just four days after the third total blackout of the year, recorded on July 6.
Three total disconnections in eight days reflect the pace of deterioration of an infrastructure that no longer has any margin for recovery.
The figures from the official system illustrate the magnitude of the problem: the informative note from the Unión Eléctrica corresponding to this Tuesday projected a deficit of between 1,990 and 2,020 MW, with a generation availability of only 1,155 MW compared to a forecasted maximum demand of 3,150 MW.
On Monday, the maximum impact reached 1,775 MW at 9:50 PM, with sustained power outages throughout the 24 hours of the day.
Among the units out of service due to breakdowns are units six and eight of the Máximo Gómez Thermoelectric Plant in Mariel; unit two of Lidio Ramón Pérez in Felton; and unit three of Antonio Maceo in Renté.
In addition to this, there are 106 distributed generation plants halted due to a lack of fuel, representing 890 MW of unavailable capacity, along with the tankers from Regla, Melones, Mariel, and Moa, all out of service.
The structural causes of this crisis are well-known: aging thermoelectric plants that have not received capital maintenance for over a decade, a chronic fuel shortage exacerbated by the reduction of subsidized oil from Venezuela, and a lack of real investment in infrastructure.
Each total collapse requires a recovery process that can last several days, involving the creation of regional microsystems—such as Energás Boca de Jaruco in the west and Energás Varadero in the center—before it is possible to reconnect the large thermal power plants.
As the crisis deepens, Díaz-Canel called to "better organize the blackouts" without providing structural solutions, a response that encapsulates the regime's stance in the face of an emergency affecting water supply, hospitals, and the daily lives of millions of Cubans.
In July 2026, daily blackouts in Cuba average between 20 and 24 hours, with some areas accumulating more than 72 consecutive hours without electricity.
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