STORY: A power outage struck most of Cuba, including the capital of Havana, the country's national electricity union UNE said on Wednesday (March 4), as the island's communist-run government faces increasing pressure from the Trump administration.

Cuba has experienced a series of major blackouts in recent years, even before the U.S. cut off oil shipments to the Caribbean's largest island.

Cuba's government has attributed its economic crisis to decades of economic sanctions from the U.S.

A more recent scarcity of oil from Venezuela and Mexico due to U.S. pressure has worsened existing shortages.

The UNE electricity union said it was working to restore services, and that the blackout affected the island from the central province of Camaguey to Pinar del Rio in the far west.

The Felton 1 thermoelectric power plant, located in Holguin province in eastern Cuba, remains online and recovery protocols have been activated, Cuba's energy ministry said.

Venezuela, Cuba's top oil supplier, has not sent shipments since December. Its President Nicolas Maduro was captured in a U.S. attack on its capital early January, after which the U.S. has controlled the country's oil exports.

Mexico said it would halt supplies after the U.S. threatened tariffs on countries supplying Cuba with oil.

The power cuts have caused the government to ration key services.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VIDEO SHOWS: PEOPLE IN STREETS DURING POWER BLACKOUT / SOUNDBITES FROM RESIDENTS

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE STORY

SHOWS: HAVANA, CUBA (MARCH 4, 2026) (REUTERS – Access all)

1. PERSON WALKING WITH MOTORCYCLE ON AVENUE WITH TRAFFIC

2. TRAFFIC LIGHT WITHOUT POWER

3. PEOPLE CROSSING AVENUE

4. PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC LIGHT WITHOUT POWER

HAVANA, CUBA (MARCH 4, 2026) (CUBAN GOVERNMENT TV – Access all)

5. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CUBAN GOVERNMENT TV NEWS ANCHOR, DIANA VALIDO, SAYING:

“The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric power plant caused a power outage in the central-western and eastern regions of the country. Protocols are currently being implemented to gradually restore power. This situation led to the interruption of radio and television signals due to technical problems."

HAVANA, CUBA (MARCH 4, 2026) (REUTERS – Access all)

6. VARIOUS OF CUSTOMERS AT POWERLESS RESTAURANT COUNTER

7. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HAVANA RESIDENT, ARIAN MENDOZA, SAYING:

"The problem of the SEN (electrical power system) outage should not be considered normal. We are talking about the infrastructure that manages the energy of an entire country. If this becomes normalized, then, in one way or another, there will come a time when, as has happened with other things, they will take it away from us and we will simply stand by and accept it, saying: ‘Well, the SEN went down.’ As if it were, I don't know, the bus didn't come or I woke up late today. As if it were a mistake, something that happened, but hey, it's normal, and that shouldn't be the case, because it makes people unhappy and, in one way or another, affects their emotional state or the way they act on a daily basis. I don't think that's right. Unfortunately, as has happened on several occasions, people try to see it as normal, and I repeat, it shouldn't be that way."

8. RESTAURANT WITHOUT ELECTRICITY

9. SIGN READING (Spanish) “CLOSED” ON RESTAURANT WINDOW WITHOUT ELECTRICITY

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HAVANA RESIDENT, ANGELI AVILES, SAYING:

“This whole issue of scheduled blackouts, when you get up in the morning there is no power, you go to work, you go to school, you come back and there is no power. And with the collapse of the SEN (electrical power system), half the people, or the entire population, are without power and without connection. We are cut off, we don't know what the news is because we can't turn on the TV, and so on.”

11. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WAITING FOR TRANSPORTATION ON AVENUE

12. PEOPLE TAKING TAXIS ON THE AVENUE