Cuba’s sixth nationwide blackout of 2026 leaves 10 million without power

Cuba’s national power grid failed on Sunday evening, leaving approximately 10 million people without electricity. This was the sixth nationwide blackout of 2026, as reported by IBTimes Singapore and Zeit Online. The outages have become increasingly unpredictable, lasting from 12 to over 30 hours, unlike earlier scheduled blackouts that lasted two to three hours.

The energy crisis has disrupted daily life across the island. Public transportation and cultural events have halted, and tourism, a key economic sector, has been severely affected. The Associated Press and My Mother Lode reported that 25,000 hospitality jobs have been vacated as tourism companies withdraw. Flights to Cuba are regularly cancelled, and workdays have been shortened to adapt to the lack of power.

Residents have adapted by planning their lives around brief bursts of electricity, sometimes occurring at odd hours like 3 a.m. Families rush to cook, wash clothes, and charge devices during these intervals. Some have purchased small generators or solar panels, often sent by relatives abroad, while others resort to cooking over wood fires due to the unavailability of gas.

Protests erupted in several Havana municipalities after blackouts exceeded 48 hours. Residents banged pots and pans and burned garbage in the streets, as described in the Associated Press and My Mother Lode reports. Inflation and currency devaluation have compounded the crisis, making it difficult for many to afford food that risks spoiling during outages.

What the reports agree on

All reports confirm the blackout was the sixth of 2026 and affected the entire island. The digests and full reports agree that the energy crisis stems from a combination of factors: a crumbling power grid, decades-long U.S. sanctions, and failed economic reforms by the Cuban government. The oil blockade imposed by the U.S. in January is cited as a recent aggravating factor, as reported by the Associated Press and My Mother Lode.

What the coverage left out

No right-rated outlet ran this story at all. None of the digests or reports provided a cost estimate for repairing the power grid or quantified the economic losses from the blackouts. The centre-rated digests omitted the protests in Havana, the loss of 25,000 hospitality jobs, and the role of U.S. sanctions in the crisis.