Cuba’s Nationwide Electrical Grid Collapses, Again
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Two years ago, we interviewed Jorge Piñon, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute, about the root causes of Cuba’s electrical system failures. In light of Cuba’s fifth nationwide blackout in 2025, we feature below some excerpts from our September 2023 interview with Piñon.
CEDA: Can you provide an overview of the current energy crisis in Cuba and its main causes?
Piñon: Cuba’s electric grid, the Servicio Eléctrico Nacional (SEN), faces far-reaching structural challenges that threaten the economic and social development of the Island. The infrastructure of its high sulfur oil-fired base load thermoelectric and distributed generation is collapsing due to its over forty years of operation and the lack of scheduled and capital maintenance.
It is a vicious maintenance cycle with no end in sight. Cuba cannot move forward toward a reliable, clean, and secure SEN with temporary band-aid solutions, such as the recently leased oil-fired floating power stations, to what are structural problems.
There is no short-term solution to Cuba's structural electric power generation challenges. The only solution is the total recapitalization of its base load, distributed generation, and renewable electric power matrix. Regrettably, it would take time and as much as $8 to 10 billion dollars of investments.
CEDA: Given your experience in the energy sector and studying Cuba, what steps do you believe Cuba should take to address its energy crisis and ensure energy security in Cuba? Can Cuba overcome the crisis?
Piñon: Cuba’s SEN’s high sulfur liquid petroleum fuels fired base load electric power infrastructure is old, tired, and highly inefficient. Years and billions of dollars would be needed to reconstruct its thermoelectric baseload and distributed generating capacity and achieve the government's stated goal of 37 percent of renewables within its electric power sector energy matrix.
Cuba faces two significant obstacles in recapitalizing its power system: time and money. To overcome these obstacles, the government must decentralize its economic model and resolve its political differences with the United States.
This week in Cuba news…
Cuba’s Nationwide Electrical Grid Collapses, Again
Cuba’s fragile power grid collapsed again on Wednesday morning, leaving the entire island without electricity for the fifth time in less than a year. Authorities reported a “total disconnection” of the national grid around 9:14 a.m., with restoration efforts underway.
The blackout compounded an already dire situation: many Cubans have been enduring daily outages of up to 16 hours, amid the country’s worst economic crisis in decades. Shortages of fuel, food, and other essentials have deepened frustration. The crisis reflects the collapse of Cuba’s aging oil-fired power plants, which have been further strained by dwindling fuel shipments from Venezuela, Russia, and Mexico.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines of Cuba announced on Thursday afternoon that the National Energy System had been restored.
New Report by Cuba Study Group on Cuba’s Private Sector
A report from the Cuba Study Group provides a comprehensive analysis of how Cuba’s private sector is vital to the country’s economy while it continues being constrained by the state’s containment strategy. It explores how the regulatory volatility from Cuba’s government limits autonomy and scale, preventing broader productivity gains and structural transformation of the country’s economy. The report specifically draws on official data regarding micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and self-employment.
The study findings affirm that the private sector overtook the public sector in retail sales in 2024, with the private sector accounting for 55% of retail sales. The report also highlighted that Havana has the highest number of MSMEs per 10,000 inhabitants, and that MSMEs have contributed to the creation of 570,000 jobs since 2012, despite the economic problems the country continues to face.
The report offers the following recommendations to help Cuba recover from its ongoing economic issues: the elimination of bureaucratic procedures for private enterprise approval; the implementation of transparent legal frameworks that authorize foreign investment in private enterprises; and the removal of state enterprise intermediation requirements for foreign trade operations, among others. Additionally, the report contends that U.S. measures should authorize financing and direct investment in private MSMEs to stimulate private sector growth in Cuba.
Miami-Dade Tax Collector Vows Crackdown on Businesses evading Sanctions
The Tax Collector for Miami-Dade County, Dariel Fernandez, recently issued a warning to local businesses allegedly violating U.S. sanctions on Cuba. Citing a Florida Law Statute that allows local authorities to revoke an occupational license if an entity is doing business with Cuba, Fernandez announced his office will revoke or refuse to renew local business tax receipts, formerly known as occupational licenses, for entities participating in unauthorized business activities on the island. Without these documents, businesses would not be able to continue operations in the county.
In making his case for the revocation of licenses, Fernandez also cited a Miami-Dade County Code that directs the Tax Collector to revoke licenses when the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) provides confirmation that an entity lacks a valid federal license or has had one revoked. Fernandez stated that his office will start sending letters to Cuba sanctions violators once they receive this written confirmation from OFAC.
Fernandez said he has been in touch with the State Department, Treasury, and members of the Miami Republican delegation on this issue. The announcement follows Representative María Elvira Salazar’s (FL-27) letter in late August to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, which demanded an investigation into companies in South Florida that she alleged are attempting to evade U.S. sanctions on Cuba. Rep. Salazar’s letter did not explicitly name the businesses she was referring to. However, with Fernandez’s announcement, he assured they “know who they are and where they are.”
Florida’s Cuban Community Divided Nine Months into Trump’s Presidency
Nine months after Donald Trump returned to the White House, El País reports that Florida’s Cuban community, long a Republican stronghold, is increasingly divided. While Trump won 68% of the Cuban American vote, some now compare his governing style to Fidel Castro’s, citing attacks on immigrants, LGBTQ+ rights, and freedom of expression.
For many Cuban refugees and migrants in the US, hopes for economic relief have given way to rising rents, high food prices, and deepening deportation fears. According to El País, 2025 has seen the highest number of Cubans deported from the US, compared to the first 9 months of previous years, while over 40,000 Cubans face final removal orders. Migrants report detentions at airports and traffic stops, disrupted family reunifications, and poor conditions in detention centers such as “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Advocates warn that Cuban asylum seekers are facing mounting denials, even in cases tied to political persecution in Cuba. Meanwhile, debate is intensifying over the future of the Cuban Adjustment Act, a longstanding protection that many now fear could be weakened amid the broader anti-immigrant climate.
Miami judge overturns $30 million jury verdict against Expedia
In an order filed on Friday, a senior judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Federico A. Moreno, overturned the first jury trial verdict in a Helms-Burton lawsuit, which awarded a Cuban-American Miami man $30 million in damages against each of the booking companies including Expedia, Orbitz, and Hotels.com for allegedly trafficking in confiscated property in Cuba. Moreno said that the lawyers for the plaintiff, Mario Echevarria, failed to prove that Expedia Group had trafficked in hotels Cuba’s government later built on his property.
In the ruling, Moreno provided reasoning by stating that the plaintiff sued Expedia Group, Inc., but not its subsidiary Expedia Inc., which was responsible for bookings in the Cuban hotels. Echevarria's lawyers failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove that Expedia Group had facilitated the bookings. Moreno stated the holding group could not be held responsible for actions taken by its subsidiary. Moreno also concluded that Orbitz and Hotels.com did not “knowingly and intentionally” traffic in the confiscated properties, a requirement set by Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, because they did not make bookings after being notified of a potential lawsuit.
Title III of the Helms-Burton Act allows U.S. nationals to file suits in U.S. courts against anyone “trafficking” in property confiscated by Cuba’s government, including foreign companies.
The Supreme Court has recently expressed interest in Helms-Burton lawsuits after plaintiffs in two separate cases asked the Court to take their cases. The Supreme Court requested that the Department of Justice offer opinions on specific legal matters related to Helms-Burton cases: whether plaintiffs must prove they would currently own the confiscated property if not for the actions of Cuba’s government, and whether Cuban state companies can avoid liability with claims to foreign sovereign immunity. The Department of Justice, alongside the State Department, responded in the negative to the aforementioned question, siding with the plaintiffs and expressing that a favorable resolution to the plaintiffs in these cases is in line with the interests of U.S. foreign policy.
Recommended Reading, Viewing, Events:
Read | Café Fuerte: Escándalo migratorio: 12 cubanos involucrados en red de tráfico de personas y fraude de visas (Spanish)
Read | Miami Herald: Boat used to smuggle migrants to Florida Keys was stolen from Cuba, owners say
Read | New York Times: What to Know About the 9/11 Case at Guantánamo Bay
Read | El País: Jessica Ruiz’s life since her husband was detained by ICE: The weight of business, home, and three children
