Nearly 26 hours after Cuba’s National Electric System (SEN) collapsed at 8:15 p.m. on Friday, March 14, the island remains without power. The nationwide blackout, triggered by a failure at the Diezmero substation near Havana, has left all 10 million residents in the dark as of 9:53 p.m. local time Saturday. The state-run Union Electrica (UNE) reports generating just 225 MW—less than 10% of the typical 3,000 MW demand—barely sustaining hospitals and critical services.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines confirmed restoration efforts began immediately, but progress has been glacial. By Saturday evening, UNE briefly powered 260,000 homes in Havana before the grid buckled again. “It’s been almost 26 hours, and we’re still waiting,” said Abel Bonne, a Havana resident, as streets stayed lit only by car headlights and scarce generators.

Officials point to aging infrastructure, fuel shortages, and U.S. sanctions as culprits, a refrain from 2024’s three total blackouts. With power absent since Friday night, frustration mounts amid an economic crisis rivaling the 1990s “Special Period.”

Internet access has dwindled, and daily life has ground to a halt. President Miguel Díaz-Canel touted efforts to synchronize backup circuits, but no timeline for relief has emerged. As Cuba approaches the 26-hour mark, this prolonged outage—among the worst in recent memory—lays bare an energy crisis that shows no sign of abating.