Starting next Sunday, Havana will be one hour ahead of Miami for the first time in years: while Florida sets its clocks back at 2:00 a.m. and transitions to Eastern Standard Time (UTC-5), Cuba will remain at UTC-4 following the regime's decision to maintain daylight saving time until November 2027 due to the energy crisis.
On Saturday, the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security issued a joint statement confirming that Cuba will not make the scheduled time change. "It has been decided to maintain daylight saving time in the country until November 7, 2027, when the change would take place next year," the statement indicates.
The immediate consequence for the diaspora is clear: from November 1, 2026, to March 14, 2027, when the clock in Miami strikes 8:00 p.m., it will be 9:00 p.m. in Havana. If it is noon in Miami, it will be 1:00 p.m. in Cuba. After March 14, when the U.S. changes the clock again, both cities will regain synchronization.
This asymmetry has practical effects that should be taken into account:
- Calls and video calls: you need to add one hour to the time in Miami. A call scheduled for 9:00 p.m. will arrive when it is already 10:00 p.m. in Havana.
- Flights: the tickets indicate the local time of each city. A flight departing from Miami at 8:00 a.m. lands in Havana when it is 9:00 a.m. there.
- Consular and embassy appointments: it is advisable to check the time zone in which the appointment is scheduled to avoid arriving an hour late.
- Top-ups and remittances: services with cutoff times that operate until a certain hour in Miami will close one hour earlier according to Cuban time.
- Cell phones: devices set to follow the U.S. time zone will change the time automatically on Sunday, which may cause confusion.
Regarding Spain, the difference with Cuba has also widened: this Sunday the Peninsula set its clocks back to UTC+1. With Cuba at UTC-4, the difference is now five hours — when it is 6:00 p.m. in Madrid, it is 1:00 p.m. in Havana — and it will remain this way until March 28, 2027.
The measure is neither technical nor neutral. It is a direct consequence of the energy crisis faced by the Cuban regime since 2024, with blackouts exceeding 20 hours a day in Havana and extending to three consecutive days in the provinces. This Sunday, the Electric Union reported a mere availability of 990 MW against a demand of 2,850 MW, a deficit of 1,730 MW.
The regime justifies the decision by arguing that keeping the clock ahead will prevent an increase in power cuts of 126 megawatts during the evening peak demand period: 76 MW from savings in artificial lighting and 50 MW from solar photovoltaic generation. As a collateral effect, the government has decided to delay the start of school and work to 30 minutes later from November 1 to March 14, 2027.
The reactions on social media were mostly skeptical. "It doesn't matter what time it is if we have no electricity either at dawn or at dusk," summarized a representative comment. Another user was more blunt: "If there is never any electricity, who are they going to save for?"
In the U.S., the debate over abolishing daylight saving time is still ongoing: the House of Representatives approved the Sunshine Protection Act in July by a vote of 308 to 117, which would make daylight saving time permanent. If the Senate approves it, Florida would no longer turn the clock back in the fall, and Cuba and Miami would have the same time year-round — but for now, the bill remains stalled.
Related videos:
Filed under: