Скачать или смотреть Power has returned to some areas of Cuba, but thousands remain without electricity

(6 Mar 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba - 05 March 2026
1. Amed Guzmán carrying wood and a tire to build a stove
2. Guzmán lighting woodstove
3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Amed Guzmán, local resident:
++ PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOTS 1-2 ++
“We still have no electricity. We're just trying to survive. It's what we have to do."
4. Guzmán cooking
5. People walking, streets with electricity
++NIGTH SHOTS++
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Jorge Martínez, local resident:
++ PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOTS 5-8 ++
“Perhaps things aren't in our government's hands, but in others'. Our problems are enormous, of course. But we really have to keep going and wait to see if one day we have some improvement in this town. because we really need it."
7. Various of Jorge Martínez cooking on the street
8. Pan of dark streets
STORYLINE:
Swaths of Cuba remained without power on Thursday, nearly a day after a huge blackout hit the western part of the island in the latest outage blamed on a fragile electric grid and a lack of fuel.

Crews worked overnight to repair a broken boiler at one of Cuba’s largest thermoelectric plants, but officials have warned that it could take 3 to 4 days to fully restore power.

The repair will be slow and gradual reported the Electric company.

Some parts of the capital Havana got electricity back in the afternoon, while others prepared for yet another night in the dark.

Amed Guzmán built a makeshift stove with a car tire and pieces of wood to cook dinner. “We still have no electricity. We're just trying to survive. It's what we have to do. The children can't starve to death.”

State media reported that nearly 660,000 customers in Havana, or 77%, had power, as well as 43 hospitals and 10 water supply stations. However, officials warned of low power generation and said some circuits that crews had reconnected were kicked offline again.

Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines wrote on X that the electrical system is operating “in a limited capacity, prioritizing basic services, primarily health and water supply.”

State media reported that two power plants are offline because of a lack of petroleum.

Cuba has long struggled with an aging electric grid and intermittent fuel supplies, but the crisis has deepened in recent months.

Key oil shipments from Venezuela were halted after the United States attacked the South American country in early January. Then later that month, U.S. President Donald Trump warned that he would impose tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba.

On Thursday, Trump suggested a deal may be imminent with Cuba but that he’s focusing on Iran in the meantime.

Trump didn’t clarify his meaning, but the comments followed his from last week, when he raised that the prospect of a “friendly takeover” of Cuba might be possible without elaborating.

“Perhaps things aren't in our government's hands, but in others'. Our problems are enormous,” said Jorge Martinéz as he cooked a “caldosa,” a typical Cuban soup, on the street. “ We have to keep going and wait to see if one day they send us some improvement for this town, because we really need it,” added Martinéz

Wednesday’s outage is the second one to hit western Cuba in three months. The outage in early December lasted nearly 12 hours.

Some of Cuba's thermoelectric plants have been operating for more than three decades and receive little maintenance because of high costs. U.S. sanctions also have prevented the government from buying new equipment and specialized parts, officials say.

AP Video shot by Ariel Fernández and Milexsy Durán



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