The fire at a thermal power plant in Cuba that left 75.5% of the country without electricity, the largest recorded since 2022

A fire at the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna power plant in Santa Cruz, east of Havana, left the island on the brink of electrical collapse this Friday. A fire at the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna power plant in Santa Cruz, east of Havana, left the island on the brink of electrical collapse this Friday. The Cuban government confirmed that unit 1 of the plant went out of service and that, as a result, 75.5% of the national territory will be without electricity during the peak afternoon and evening hours. This is the highest rate of impact recorded since energy statistics began being published in 2022, according to EFE, the Spanish news agency. The incident originated at 06:55 local time (10:55 GMT) and was brought under control with no injuries reported. The Unión Eléctrica (UNE) detailed the episode on its social media and specified that the unit was taken offline by the fire. The Cuban government confirmed that unit 1 of the plant went out of service and that, as a result, 75.5% of the national territory will be without electricity during the peak afternoon and evening hours. The new record surpasses the 74% reached on July 29, a day that coincided with the ordinary session of the National Assembly of People's Power in Havana. For this Friday's peak demand hours, availability is forecast at just 740 megawatts (MW) against a maximum demand of 2,900 MW, resulting in an estimated impact of 2,190 MW: the energy that must be disconnected in a planned manner to avoid a total collapse of the system. For this Friday's peak demand hours, availability is forecast at just 740 megawatts (MW) against a maximum demand of 2,900 MW, resulting in an estimated impact of 2,190 MW: the energy that must be disconnected in a planned manner to avoid a total collapse of the system. Friday's energy shortfall is not limited to the Santa Cruz plant. Eight other thermoelectric generation units will also be out of operation due to breakdowns or maintenance work, out of the 16 owned by the Caribbean country, according to the report released by the UNE. Most of those plants, responsible for 40% of Cuba's electricity generation, were built in the 1960s and 1970s. The deterioration of that infrastructure explains much of the system's fragility: Cuba lacks sufficient capacity to sustain demand even on days without incidents. Cuba has been going through a deep energy crisis since mid-2024 due to the obsolescence of its electrical grid and chronic lack of investment, aggravated since January by the United States' oil blockade, a measure the UN deemed contrary to international law. The result is daily blackouts of more than 20 hours across much of the territory. Cuba has been going through a deep energy crisis since mid-2024 due to the obsolescence of its electrical grid and chronic lack of investment, aggravated since January by the United States' oil blockade, a measure the UN deemed contrary to international law. The result is daily blackouts of more than 20 hours across much of the territory. The deterioration of the service has already sparked citizen mobilizations in recent days. In Cabañas, a village in the municipality of Mariel, in Artemisa province, residents staged a protest in the early hours of Wednesday over the prolonged blackouts, the second recorded in that community in less than four days, according to testimony gathered by Infobae. The Artemisa Electric Company had acknowledged in September that the province would not be able to reduce its deficit of 18 hours of daily blackouts, even with the full operation of its solar parks. Data attributed to Cubalex, a human rights organization, indicate that during the first half of the year, 766 protests were documented in 141 municipalities across the country. Cuba converted shipping containers into charging and community cooking centers in Guantánamo to cope with the prolonged blackouts. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA) So far in 2026, Cuba has suffered eight total blackouts and as many partial ones that simultaneously leave most of its 9.4 million inhabitants without electricity, according to EFE's count. The context of U.S. pressure added a chapter this week. The United States government sanctioned the International Commercial Bank of Cuba on Thursday for providing services to an Iranian bank previously sanctioned by Washington, according to El País, the Spanish newspaper. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio justified the measure by stating that the Cuban entity had operated with the Iranian bank Karafarin, sanctioned since 2020 by the Treasury Department. The sanction entails the freezing of the bank's assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits any transactions with that institution. A fire at the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna plant this Friday broke all records for energy impact on the island, with eight additional generators out of service and demand nearly four times higher than available capacityThe decision is based on a May executive order that expanded the U.S. government's powers to act against individuals and companies linked to the island's energy, mining, defense, financial services, and security sectors, according to the Spanish newspaper. That same order had allowed in July the sanctioning of the Cuban state oil company CUPET, accused by Rubio of "rationing energy as a tool of social control." The squeeze intensified after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, an event that cut off the historic flow of subsidized oil to the island and left Cuba's state energy sector without a reliable supplier.