CUBA’S national electricity grid collapsed on Sunday, plunging the entire island into a blackout.

The state-run Electric Union announced the failure on X but did not immediately identify its cause, the extent of the disruption or when electricity would be restored.

Sunday night’s collapse is the latest in a series of nationwide blackouts this year. 

The grid collapsed three times in nine days in July, including two island-wide failures in the same week. 

One of those power cuts left about 10 million people without electricity, while authorities struggled to restore power because the country could not generate enough electricity to meet demand even after the network was reconnected.

Cuba’s government blames the United States for the power shortages, since Washington has blocked oil supplies to the Caribbean island and from accessing finance and equipment to repair the grid.

The socialist island lost a key source of fuel when US President Donald Trump imposed an oil blockade on Cuba following the deadly US raid on Venezuela on January 3, during which President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Celia Flores were kidnapped and 100 people were killed. 

Venezuela had long been Cuba’s primary oil supplier, though imports from Mexico have also been halted amid increased US pressure.