Sawt Falasteen - Cuba hit by total blackout as US fuel blockade bites

The cuts resulted from a "complete shutdown of the national grid," Union Nacional Electrica de Cuba (UNE) said in a statement, adding that work had begun to restore electricity flow.

Cuba's ageing electricity generation system is in shambles, with daily power outages of up to 20 hours the norm in parts of the island, which lacks the fuel needed to generate power.

But since the US ouster of Cuba's top ally, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, on January 3, the island's economy has been hammered further as President Donald Trump maintains a de facto oil blockade.

No oil has been imported to the island since January 9, hitting the power sector while also forcing airlines to curtail flights to the island, a blow to the all-important tourism sector.

The crisis in the country of 9.6 million people comes as Trump has made no secret of his desire to see regime change in Havana.

In early March, a blackout hit two-thirds of the country, mainly in the center and west, for over a day after a breakdown at the Antonio Guiteras power plant, the island's largest.

- Pressure mounts -

The blackouts as well as regular shortages of food, medicine and other basics are spurring frustrations, with demonstrators vandalizing a provincial office of the Cuban Communist Party last weekend.

It was part of a new trend of protests in which people bang pots and pans at night, at times yelling "Libertad," or freedom.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel acknowledged in an X post "the discontent our people feel because of the prolonged blackouts" after the early March outage.

"What will never be comprehensible, justified or admitted is violence," he said.

The government has rationed gasoline sales and some hospital services due the fuel shortages, and Diaz-Canel acknowledged last week that his government had held talks with the United States.

Trump has alleged the fuel blockade is a response to an "extraordinary threat" posed by Cuba to the United States.

Trump said Sunday that Cuba "wants to make a "deal", which could come quickly after his administration has finished the war against Iran.

"I think we will pretty soon either make a deal or do whatever we have to do," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

F.AbuZaid--SF-PST