Cuba’s national power grid collapsed on Monday, triggering a nationwide blackout that left about 10 million people without power and exacerbated the island’s ongoing energy crisis.National grid operator UNE said the outage occurred around noon and authorities were investigating the cause of the collapse.The nationwide blackout comes after months of chronic power shortages across Cuba, in which aging power infrastructure and fuel shortages led to frequent outages that lasted hours; in some cases, days.The island’s energy supplies are also strained by restrictions on fuel imports, with the Cuban government blaming U.S. sanctions for limiting access to oil needed to operate power plants.The latest collapses add to the difficulty for residents already dealing with rolling blackouts that disrupt daily life, commerce and essential services, especially during the peak of the Caribbean summer.Cuba has been grappling with growing power shortages amid a long-running economic crisis, but the situation has worsened in recent months as the government faces growing financial and energy challenges.Nearly two-thirds of the country was without power before the national grid was completely paralyzed on Monday, officials said, underscoring the severity of the power crisis.
