Electricity went out on the entire island of Cuba on Friday, affecting its population of 10 million after one of its main power plants failed, according to Cuba’s energy ministry.
The government had tried to keep the lights on earlier in the day by closing schools and having most state workers stay home in an effort to conserve energy. But it wasn’t enough and by 11 a.m. the largest power plant went offline, causing a grid failure.
The communist-run country’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, wrote on X that they are giving “absolute priority” to solving the problem, and “there won’t be any rest” until the power comes back on.
Cubans have been grappling with rolling blackouts for months. In some provinces outside the capital, Havana, many people have been facing power outages that last up to 12 hours at a time.
Cuba’s prime minister, Manuel Marrero, on Thursday blamed the ongoing blackouts on the deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand among its people.
While demand for electricity has gone up, the supply of oil has been greatly limited. Cuba’s ally and main oil supplier, Venezuela, has decreased the amount of shipments it sends to the island. Oil shipments from other countries, like Russia and Mexico, have also been greatly diminished.
Authorities said they did not know how long it would take to reestablish power.
This particular moment has been worrying for many Cubans. During a walk in a Havana neighborhood people expressed alarm at the situation and one resident said they felt the country had reached the “bottom of the barrel.”
“This is incredible,” said a Havana resident who declined to provide his name. “I don’t see a solution to this problem.”
A woman in a neighborhood in Old Havana said she was fearful the situation would get worse. “It really worries me that we may not yet be at the bottom of this electricity crisis,” she told NBC News.
Cuba’s government has long blamed the decades-old U.S. embargo on the island for many of its economic shortcomings. Former President Donald Trump increased sanctions while he was in office, and the coronavirus pandemic had a devastating impact on the island’s tourism industry, one of the most lucrative sources of income for the state-dominated economy.
The economic crisis has already made life difficult for the average Cuban with shortages in food, medicine and fuel.