Havana residents left in darkness after Cuba power grid collapse

Cuba's national electric grid collapsed on Monday (March 16) leaving around 10 million people without power, according to operator, The Electric Union (UNE).

The blackout plunged Havana into darkness and left streets illuminated only by car headlights and rechargeable lamps. Sparse traffic passed through dimly lit roads, while residents grappled with the challenges of daily life on top of water, food and fuel shortages.

Resident Lazaro Hernandez, 26, described the harsh conditions: "It is not just the blackout. There is no water, no electricity, no gas... private businesses have high prices because everything is going up now, since they have to move their goods by truck and transport. All of this is really very bad," she said.

The situation was particularly gruelling for some. Gladys Valdes, 76, expressed her struggles from her 17th-floor apartment. "No, get used to it? No, no one can get used to that... It is very hard to go out, come back, and now I have to climb 17 floors, and when I get there there is no water, because there has been no electricity all day," she said, describing the difficulty of carrying groceries up the stairs to feed herself.

UNE said on social media it was investigating the cause of the incident and had started restoring power to small clusters of areas. Officials ruled out a major power plant failure but had not identified the root cause, suggesting a transmission problem.

The blackout followed a series of prolonged outages in Cuba, where an ageing generation system and fuel shortages have strained the grid, while the government said recent U.S. pressure and reduced Venezuelan oil supplies had deepened the crisis.

Earlier on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric against Cuba, saying he expected to have the "honour" of "taking Cuba in some form" and that "I can do anything I want" with the neighbouring country.

The threatening statements come even as Cuba and the United States have opened talks aimed at improving their largely adverse relations, which have reached one of their most contentious moments in the 67 years since Fidel Castro overthrew what had been a close U.S. ally.

Production: Alien Fernandez, Anett Rios, Hugo Monnet/Reuters