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Cuba hit with another blackout as millions across island are left without electricity

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The Associated Press. (2026, September 18). Cuba hit with another blackout as millions across island are left without electricity. ABC News (US). https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/cuba-hit-blackout-millions-island-left-electricity-136572161

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

ABC News (US) · collected 2026-09-18 · by The Associated Press

Quick Summary

Cuba’s power grid collapsed on Friday, leaving millions of people without electricity across the island. The Ministry of Energy and Mines reported the blackout but did not provide a cause, stating that service-restoration protocols were being activated. Blackouts have become frequent over the past two years due to an economic crisis exacerbated by U.S. restrictions on fuel imports and infrastructure maintenance parts. Recent blackouts occurred in early August, July, and March, with ongoing issues even when power is restored, such as outages lasting more than 30 hours continuously.
Written by AI on 2026-09-18, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On Friday, Cuba's power grid collapsed, leaving millions of people across the island without electricity. This was at least the sixth major blackout since January, following previous outages in March, July, and August 2023. The Ministry of Energy and Mines announced the outage on its official X account but did not provide a cause beyond initiating service-restoration protocols.

The frequent power failures are linked to the severe economic crisis exacerbated by the U.S.'s energy blockade, which restricts Cuba’s access to necessary fuel and replacement parts for its aging infrastructure. Even when electricity is available, rolling blackouts still occur daily, with some areas going without power for over 30 consecutive hours.

In Havana, only about 5% of users had power restored by late evening, primarily around hospitals and water pumping stations. Residents are struggling to cope with the ongoing shortages in food, water, and electricity, highlighting the dire situation on the island.

Written for “Cuba Power Grid Collapse Blackouts” on 2026-11-02, grounded in this article and the 9 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Cuba Power Grid Collapse Blackouts
World · 10 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
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⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 17 claims Outlet record 70/100
New York Post
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 18 claims Outlet record 66/100
BBC News
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 0 of 18 claims Outlet record 68/100
Fox News
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 11 claims Outlet record 69/100
The Straits Times
Hedges 0 of 11 claims Outlet record 66/100
The Independent
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 19 claims Outlet record 59/100
CBS News
⚖️ Leans strongly left further left than this Hedges 2 of 27 claims Outlet record 66/100
Al Jazeera
⚖️ Leans strongly left further left than this Hedges 0 of 15 claims Outlet record 60/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
7
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 7 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
70/100
ABC News (US)'s corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
10
World
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-18 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

ABC News (US) · 1287 article(s) · 3 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 3 correction(s)

Who wrote this

The Associated Press
1734 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
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Wire or desk byline, not an individual reporter.
Also by The Associated Press
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 1734 articles by The Associated Press →

Topics

Cuba Cubans HAVANA The Ministry of Energy and Mines the United States

Subjects

Cuba GPE · 5× Cubans NORP · 1× HAVANA GPE · 1× The Ministry of Energy and Mines ORG · 1× the United States GPE · 1×

Narrative

The Ministry of Energy and Mines announced the blackout on its official X account without giving a cause and added that officials had begun “activating service-restoration protocols.” Power grid collapses have become increasingly common over the past two years because of the severe economic crisis gripping the island.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-18

Claims (7 extracted, 0 hedged)

Cuba hit with another blackout as millions across island are left without electricity Cuba’s power grid has collapsed, leaving millions of people across the island without electricity HAVANA -- asserted
grid → hit → electricity
Cuba’s power grid collapsed on Friday, leaving millions of people across the island without electricity. asserted
grid → collapse → electricity
The Ministry of Energy and Mines announced the blackout on its official X account without giving a cause and added that officials had begun “activating service-restoration protocols.” Power grid collapses have become increasingly common over the past two years because of the severe economic crisis gripping the island. asserted
collapses → announce → island
They have worsened since January, after the United States imposed an energy blockade aimed at forcing a change in Cuba’s political system. asserted
States → worsen → system
The restrictions prevent Cuba from importing the fuel needed to operate its thermoelectric power plants, as well as replacement parts required to maintain infrastructure that in many cases has become obsolete. asserted
that → prevent → cases
The two most recent nationwide blackouts occurred in early August, following others in July and March, as well as several regional outages. asserted
blackouts → occur → July
Even when the national power grid is working, Cubans endureoutages lasting more than 30 consecutive hours. asserted
grid → work → hours
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