Cuba says electrical grid reconnected after major power blackout

HAVANA, March 5 (Reuters) - Cuba's Energy Ministry said on Thursday that the national electrical grid had been reconnected and power generation was being brought back online after an outage struck most of the country on Wednesday, including Havana.

The blackout came as the island's communist-run government grapples with increased pressure from the Trump administration that has curtailed oil shipments.

By early Thursday, the ministry said on X, the grid had been reconnected from Guantanamo in eastern Cuba to Pinar del Rio in the far west.

In Havana, according to local utility EELH, 22 substations and 102 distribution circuits accounting for roughly 36% of the city had been restored - a process the firm said would proceed gradually, as conditions in the national grid allow.

The electric company Union Electrica UNE said on Wednesday the blackout was caused by an unexpected outage at Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant about 100 km (62 miles) east of Havana.

Cuba has experienced a series of major blackouts in recent years, even before U.S. actions to cut off oil shipments, particularly from top supplier Venezuela after Washington's ouster of leader Nicolas Maduro in early January.

Cuba's government has attributed its economic crisis to decades of economic sanctions from the U.S., contributing to the lack of investment in power generation and the electric grid.