Traffic lights are back on in Havana, but much of Cuba remains without power. The national grid collapsed again on Monday, leaving the island largely dark through Tuesday. Electricity has been slowly restored in the capital, Al Jazeera’s Ed Augustin reported from Havana, but most provinces are still without regular supply.
Widespread outages in Cuba began in 2019 after the first Trump administration tightened so-called maximum-pressure sanctions. Those measures reduced the government’s hard-currency income, forcing steep cuts to fuel imports and leaving the state with less ability to run thermal plants and stabilize the grid.
With Donald Trump back in the White House, U.S. policy has hardened further. Since late January the administration has imposed what Cuban officials describe as a total oil blockade, meaning little or no fuel shipments have reached the island for nearly three months. Given Cuba’s heavy reliance on oil for electricity generation, the blockade has made blackouts longer and more frequent.
Officials in both countries say talks are underway. On Monday Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Perez-Oliva Fraga announced a plan to let Cubans living abroad — including in Miami — directly invest in and even own businesses on the island. That pro-market reform echoes Washington’s public demand that any arrangement should benefit the Cuban-American community in Florida.
Details of the negotiations remain unclear. As Augustin noted, the discussions appear focused on economic reforms, and with living standards falling under the oil squeeze, many on the island are open to some kind of agreement.