Cuba’s power grid collapses again, leaving island in darkness

Cuba's electrical grid suffered a total collapse on Friday, ​plunging the nation into darkness and leaving millions without power amid a US pressure campaign that has largely blocked oil from reaching the Caribbean's largest island. Friday's collapse ​was triggered ‌by a failure in high-voltage transmission lines in central ⁠Cuba that occurred around 2 pm local time, authorities said. "Protocols are now in place to begin the ‌gradual restoration of the system," said Felix Estrada, an official with ⁠Cuba's National Electrical Union (UNE). Amid successive energy blackouts, frustration grows in cut-off Cuba To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Cover image: Cuba's energy crisis takes toll on morale REUTERS - Norlys Perez 01:24 Power had returned to a handful of scattered neighborhoods in Havana by late evening, primarily around hospitals, but much of ​the city remained completely dark under cloudy skies ‌and rain. The nationwide blackout, the latest of at least six partial or total grid collapses since January, hardly registered in a country accustomed to long hours, or even ‌days, without power. Many exhausted residents of the capital Havana were already without power when the blackout hit. "Yesterday ​I'd gone without power for 24 hours. They turned the lights on for an hour, and then the grid collapsed," said Frank Lorenzo, a 23-year-old ​Havana resident looking forward to a long night of sweating and ​slapping mosquitoes. Read moreUS sanctions Cuban president, Castro relatives in latest pressure campaign Cuba's aging power generation system has been ​under severe strain from fuel shortages and decrepit infrastructure for years, but a US-imposed oil blockade that began in ​January has vastly worsened blackouts and led to more frequent grid collapses. The grid collapsed three times in July and rolling blackouts have since spanned 30 hours or more across most of the country. United Nations human rights experts have ⁠condemned the US oil blockade, calling it a violation of international law and warning that Cuba ⁠risks becoming ​a "silent Gaza" as shortages and blackouts grow ever more critical. (FRANCE 24 with Reuters)