A TOTAL blackout hit Cuba on Wednesday, the latest in a series of outages blamed on ageing infrastructure and fuel shortages at power plants.

It was the second island-wide power cut this year, with three other blackouts reported late last year.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines said on social media platform X that the latest outage could be tied to a malfunction at one of Cuba’s biggest thermoelectric plants.

In a television interview Argelio Abad, the ministry’s vice minister, said the grid shut down after an apparently erroneous message warning of overheating disconnected the thermoelectric plant.

He added that officials immediately began to build a type of microsystem to deliver electricity to infrastructure that provides basic services.

The ministry said crews were working hard to restore power to the island of roughly 10 million people, with electricity returning to hospitals, food production plants and other high-priority businesses.

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero made an appearance at Cuba’s national power company and asked Cubans for their trust as he said electricity would be restored gradually.

Some Cubans, like Mayte Garcia, believed they would be without power for a couple of days.

She said: “If you buy something, you don’t know if you’ll be able to keep it. Many people’s food has spoiled.”

Earlier this week, an outage hit Cuba’s eastern region, leaving people from Las Tunas to Guantanamo in the dark for several hours.

In February, the government suspended classes and work activities for two days due to a shortage in electricity generation.

There is a severe economic and energy supply crisis in Cuba. It has worsened in recent years caused by the illegal sanctions imposed by the US and its allies and the arbitrary designation by Washington of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The sanctions have prevented Cuba from having sufficient foreign currency to buy fuel or buy equipment to repair its ageing thermoelectric plants.