HAVANA - Cuba's power grid was restored on Sunday, officials said, a day after the second nationwide blackout in a week as the crisis-hit island struggles under a US oil blockade.
Two-thirds of Havana had power again in the afternoon, the capital's electricity company said, a day after the energy ministry reported a "total disconnection" of the national electric system in the country of 9.6 million people.
"Thanks to the efforts of our electrical workers, the SEN (National Electric System) was restored," Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz said on X late Sunday.
Authorities cautioned, however, that demand would still exceed supply.
The outage comes as Cuba's communist government has faced growing pressure from US President Donald Trump, who imposed the de facto oil blockade in January and mused this past week about "taking" the Caribbean island.
A top Cuban diplomat said the country's military was "preparing these days for the possibility of military aggression."
"We truly hope that it doesn't occur," Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio told NBC's "Meet the Press" in an interview taped before the blackout.
He said Havana was willing to continue talking with Washington, but discussing changes to its political system was off the table.
"Cuba has no quarrel with the United States. We do have the need and the right to protect ourselves. But we are willing to sit down," Fernandez de Cossio said in the interview, which aired Sunday.
There have been seven nationwide blackouts since 2024, making life more difficult for Cubans who fear food will spoil in refrigerators, among other problems in a country in economic crisis.
The latest grid failure was due to an outage in a generating unit at one of the country's aging thermoelectric plants, triggering a domino effect in the system, according to authorities.
The blackout occurred as an international aid convoy began arriving in Cuba this week, bringing sorely-needed medical supplies, food, water and solar panels to the Caribbean island.