Cuba was hit by a third nationwide power outage in a week, the country's Energy Ministry said last night, quoted by Reuters, BTA reported.
“The power system is completely shut down”, the ministry said on the social network Ex, adding that procedures to restore power have been activated.
Later, the ministry said that a failure in a thermal power plant unit had caused the national power grid to be cut off. Electricity was restored in stages in several parts of the country, it added.
Cuba was hit by a national power outage on Friday and July 6, Reuters recalls. The socialist-run island is suffering from a severe energy crisis due to its aging infrastructure and an oil embargo imposed by the United States several months ago.
Many of the country's thermal power plants, most of which were built decades ago, often break down, and fuel for generating electricity is in short supply.
The government blames the crisis partly on the U.S. trade embargo and other sanctions imposed by Washington.
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened in January to impose tariffs on countries that export fuel to Cuba. Fuel supplies from abroad have since all but stopped. The island can only meet a portion of its oil needs.
Washington has used various pressure measures to try to force the island to open up economically and politically to its wishes. On Monday, the United States added Cuba's Ministry of Tourism, a key pillar of the Cuban economy, to its sanctions list.