A single thermoelectric power plant in Cuba shut down early Wednesday, which prompted an energy blackout across the island.
Cuba’s Antonio Guiteras power plant was the largest power plant before it broke down around 2:00 a.m. Eastern time. As a result, the entire energy grid failed. The plant’s proximity to the capital of Havana has left the city in the dark.
This is the latest energy failure in a country that is importing less and less oil from Mexico, Russia, and Venezuela. While the country is able to produce about half of the crude oil it needs to run its power plants, U.S. sanctions have made it expensive for Cuba to buy more oil from anywhere else.
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Cubans most recently protested in March against the power failures. Some homes have gone as long as eight hours without power in previous outages. It remains to be seen when this latest outage will be resolved.
The most recent outage came as a result of Hurricane Rafael making landfall.