{"id":5493,"date":"2026-03-16T23:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T23:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/16\/cuba-electric-grid-collapses-amid-us-oil-blockade-causing-national-blackout\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T23:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T23:36:22","slug":"cuba-electric-grid-collapses-amid-us-oil-blockade-causing-national-blackout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/16\/cuba-electric-grid-collapses-amid-us-oil-blockade-causing-national-blackout\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuba electric grid collapses amid US oil blockade causing national blackout"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Cuba has not received oil shipments since early January amid US pressure, worsening the humanitarian crisis on the island.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Cuba\u2019s national power grid has collapsed amid an ongoing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/10\/trump-threatens-cuba-again-says-island-nation-may-face-friendly-takeover\">United States-imposed<\/a> oil blockade on the island nation.<\/p>\n<p>The collapse on Monday left the entire country of about 10 million without power, according to the Union Nacional Electrica de Cuba (UNE). The state-owned company said it was working to restore electricity flows.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/14\/protests-erupt-in-cuba-as-us-restrictions-spark-food-energy-shortages\">Protests erupt in Cuba as US restrictions spark food, energy shortages<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/12\/advocates-push-for-major-probe-as-us-boat-strikes-in-latin-america-kill-157\">Advocates push for major probe as US boat strikes in Latin America kill 157<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/11\/ecuador-prepares-for-attack-on-criminal-economy-with-trump-backing\">Ecuador prepares for attack on \u2018criminal economy\u2019 with Trump backing<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>It added that it was investigating what caused the \u201ccomplete shutdown of the national grid\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>No oil has been imported to Cuba since January 9 amid the US pressure campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Following the US military abduction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the government of Venezuela\u2019s interim leader Delcy Rodriguez agreed to stifle oil shipments to Cuba.<\/p>\n<p>US President Donald Trump subsequently threatened other countries, notably Mexico, with sanctions if they delivered fuel to the island, which relies almost solely on oil imports.<\/p>\n<p>His administration has openly said it sought regime change in Communist-led Cuba, which had been under a decades-long US trade embargo prior to the most recent actions.<\/p>\n<p>Reuters news agency reported that Cuba has received only two small vessels carrying oil imports this year, citing SEG ship-tracking data it reviewed.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, a blackout hit two-thirds of the country, mainly in the centre and west, for over a day after a breakdown at the Antonio Guiteras power plant, the island\u2019s largest.<\/p>\n<p>The US actions have further strained Cuba\u2019s years-long economic woes, causing a humanitarian crisis amid widespread shortages of fuel, food and medicine.<\/p>\n<p>The conditions have fomented rare public unrest on the island, with protesters <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/14\/protests-erupt-in-cuba-as-us-restrictions-spark-food-energy-shortages\">torchin<\/a>g a Communist Party office over the weekend. Rights groups have warned against any US attempts to rally dissent by worsening the living conditions for residents.<\/p>\n<p>President Miguel Diaz-Canel <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/13\/cuban-president-diaz-canel-says-talks-held-with-us-amid-trump-threats\">confirmed<\/a> last week that his government had held talks with the Trump administration.<\/p>\n<p>Trump, who has previously suggested a \u201cfriendly takeover\u201d of Cuba, said on Sunday that Cuba \u201cwants to make a deal\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>His top officials, meanwhile, have vowed the US will continue to take a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/5\/trump-administration-doubles-down-on-military-action-in-latin-america\">militaristic approach<\/a> to Latin America, even as the US fights a war against Iran alongside Israel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we will pretty soon either make a deal or do whatever we have to do,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cuba has not received oil shipments since early January amid US pressure, worsening the humanitarian crisis on the island. Cuba\u2019s national power grid has collapsed amid an ongoing United States-imposed oil blockade on the island nation. The collapse on Monday left the entire country of about 10 million without power, according to the Union Nacional &#8230; <a title=\"Cuba electric grid collapses amid US oil blockade causing national blackout\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/16\/cuba-electric-grid-collapses-amid-us-oil-blockade-causing-national-blackout\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Cuba electric grid collapses amid US oil blockade causing national blackout\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}