Cuba's National Electric System collapsed due to a failure at the Antonio Guiteras power plant, leaving more than half the country without power, from Pinar del Río to Camagüey. All of Havana remains in darkness following the incident on Wednesday.
An unexpected failure at the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant in Matanzas caused the collapse of Cuba's National Electric System (SEN) around 12:41 p.m. on Wednesday. This plant, the largest and most important in the country, disconnected due to a boiler leak, according to a brief statement from the National Electric Union (UNE). The state-owned company stated that “all protocols for restoring the National Electric System (SEN) are already in place”.
The blackout spans from Pinar del Río to Camagüey, affecting a large portion of the population. The structural fragility of the SEN, characterized by chronic generation deficits, frequent breakdowns in thermoelectric plants, and fuel supply limitations, worsens such incidents. This marks the first total system collapse this year, though in previous years, such as late 2024 and early 2025, several nationwide or regional outages occurred due to failures in key units or extreme deficits.
The prolonged disruptions have affected economic activity, transportation, telecommunications, and water supply, heightening citizen discontent amid daily blackouts exceeding 20 hours in some provinces. So far, the UNE has not specified the time required for full service restoration, amid an extreme crisis exacerbated by the US oil blockade following the intervention in Caracas on January 3.
