How Cuba’s Power Grid Collapse Exposes Deeper Infrastructure Crisis

Photo by Valentin Salmon on Unsplash

In an unprecedented infrastructure failure that began October 17, 2024, Cuba’s national power grid succumbed to systemic collapse, leaving more than half the island nation in darkness. The breakdown, which started with a major system failure and culminated in the shutdown of the country’s largest electrical plant, has exposed the fragility of Cuba’s aging infrastructure and the broader challenges facing its economic model.

The crisis has precipitated a cascade of critical service failures across the island. Municipal water systems, dependent on electric pumps, have ceased functioning in numerous regions. Urban residents, bereft of conventional cooking facilities, have resorted to improvised wood fires in the streets. The situation has been further exacerbated by the arrival of Hurricane Oscar, which made landfall on October 20, overwhelming already strained emergency response capabilities.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s administration faces mounting challenges in addressing the crisis. Despite governmental assurances of continuous repair efforts, approximately 30 percent of the population remains without power, highlighting the severe limitations of Cuba’s infrastructure maintenance capacity.

The root causes of this crisis extend beyond immediate technical failures. Cuba’s power…