Today, the situation with electricity outages is critical: eastern Cuba is affected by a new large-scale blackout, while the country’s largest power plant, located in Matanzas province about 100 km from Havana, has suffered a serious breakdown.

Cuba is “ready” to examine the $100 million aid proposal offered by the United States, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla announced on X (formerly Twitter). His U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio had reiterated the offer on Wednesday, on the condition that the aid be distributed through the Catholic Church rather than the Cuban communist government.

“We are ready to listen to the characteristics of the proposal and how it would be implemented,” said Rodríguez.

On Wednesday, the Minister of Energy and Mines stated that the country had no remaining “fuel or diesel,” adding that 100,000 tons of crude oil delivered by a Russian tanker in late March had already been exhausted.

A partial grid failure occurred at 06:09 local time (13:09 in Greece), the national electricity company UNE announced, affecting seven of the country’s 15 provinces.

The affected areas stretch from Ciego de Ávila in central Cuba to Guantánamo in the east.

The outage comes as the country faces a severe energy crisis since mid-2024, worsened by fuel shortages. Residents in Havana have reported blackouts lasting more than 20 hours, leading to growing social tension and protests, including pot-banging demonstrations demanding electricity.

The Cuban government blames Washington for the crisis, while the United States attributes it to internal economic mismanagement.