What to know about the electrical grid failure that plunged Cuba into darkness

HAVANA (AP) — Millions of people in Cuba were left without electricity for two days after the nation's energy grid went down when of the island's major power plants failed. The widespread blackout that swept across the county was the worst in years.

Authorities were able to restore power to some people by Saturday, but it was unclear when the power would be fully restored across the country.

Here are a few things to know:

About half of Cuba was plunged into darkness on Thursday evening, followed by the entire island on Friday morning after the failure of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant in Matanzas Province east of Havana.

Even in a country that for decades has been accustomed to frequent outages amid a series of economic crises, the grid failure was unprecedented in modern times, aside from incidents involving powerful hurricanes, such as one in 2022.

Even as Cuba worked to fix the power problems Saturday, the country issued hurricane watches for the far eastern Guantanamo, Holguin and Las Tunas provinces as a tropical storm developed into Hurricane Oscar, the 10th hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.

Authorities said the outage that began Thursday stemmed from increased demand from small- and medium-sized companies and residences’ air conditioners — as many as 100,000 additional ones this year alone. They also blamed breakdowns in old thermoelectric plants that haven’t been properly maintained because of a lack of hard currency due to U.S. sanctions, as well as insufficient fuel to operate some facilities.

While some homes have spent up to eight hours a day this year without electricity as the grid has grown more unstable, the current power failure is considered Cuba’s worst in years.

Officials said that 1.64 gigawatts went offline during peak hours, about half the total demand at the time. The government implemented emergency measures to slash demand, suspended classes, and shut down some state-owned workplaces and canceled non-essential services.

Another major collapse occurred two years ago after Hurricane Ian, an intense Category 3 storm, damaged power installations and the government took days to fix them.

It's unknown how Cubans will react if the current blackout endures or recurs.

But problems in the electrical grid have helped sparked street protests several times in recent years, including large demonstrations in July 2021 that led to international criticism of the government for its harsh response. There were also smaller demonstrations due to blackouts in October 2022 and March of this year.

Authorities now say changes to electricity rates for small- and medium-sized companies, which have proliferated since they were first authorized by the communist government in 2021, are being considered.

Officials said the state-owned power company UNE was using distributed generation to provide power to some areas of the island and that a gas-fired thermoelectric plant was starting operations.

Cuba gets its power from huge thermoelectric plants like Antonio Guiteras and some smaller ones, which require crude oil to operate. The country produces about half of the crude needed, but must purchase some of the rest on the international market, which can be difficult and costly due to U.S. sanctions. It has also depended on allies like Venezuela and Russia for cheaper fuel.

Authorities have been working since last year on a project to upgrade the island’s electrical grid through the use of alternative power sources. A project to build 31 centers generating solar energy is under way and projected to be completed next year.

“We are devoting absolute priority to addressing and solving this highly sensitive energy contingency,” Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on X. “There will be no rest until its restoration.”

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

A woman prepares to catch a tossed frisbee during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A man walks along a street with the aid of crutches during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A man drives his American classic car during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents play dominoes during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents eat outside their homes to avoid the indoor heat during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A resident prepares a soup over an open fire during a massive blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents endure the heat during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A cook looks in on a resident during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A street vendor selling candles waits for customers during a massive blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Lionel Messi and Inter Miami have put together the best regular season in Major League Soccer history.

Messi had three goals and an assist in the second half alone, Luis Suarez had a pair of first-half goals and Inter Miami beat the New England Revolution 6-2 on Saturday night, finishing the season with an MLS-record 74 points — one more than the Revolution had in 2021.

It was Messi's first hat trick for Inter Miami, the team the Argentine superstar joined midway through the 2023 season in a huge victory for Major League Soccer.

At 22-4-8 in league play, Inter Miami finished the season with a .765 winning percentage for another MLS record. There were four teams — D.C. United (24-8) and the LA Galaxy (24-8) in 1998, LAFC (21-4-9) in 2019 and New England (22-5-7) in 2021 — that finished an MLS season with a .750 winning percentage, which was the top spot until Saturday night.

Now, the top spot is Inter Miami's by any measure, both in terms of points and best won-lost-tied mark. Inter Miami also became the eighth team in MLS history to get through a regular season with only four losses, tying another record.

Messi — who played about 35 minutes and still scored three times Saturday — finished the regular season with 20 goals and 16 assists in 19 matches.

Suarez got to 20 goals in his first MLS season, his strikes — coming about three minutes apart — helping Inter Miami erase an early 2-0 deficit. Luca Langoni and Dylan Borrero had the goals for New England.

The rest of the match was all Miami. The team had a stage pulled onto the field after the match to recognize the Supporters Shield win, which the team claimed on the road earlier this month, and fired pink confetti into the air when time expired.

Suarez's brace pulled the hosts into a tie by halftime and Benja Cremaschi scored the go-ahead goal in the 58th minute. Messi had an assist on Cremaschi’s goal, one that came just seconds after the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner subbed into the match.

There had been some question about whether Messi would play at all, especially since Inter Miami had already wrapped up the Supporters' Shield and No. 1 seed in the MLS Cup playoffs. All that was at stake for Inter Miami on Saturday was the record.

And there was a scare in the 74th minute when Messi was fouled, yelled in pain and grabbed at his right ankle as he was on the ground. He’s missed 15 of Inter Miami’s MLS matches in 2024, either because of commitments to Argentina’s national team or the two-month absence that he needed to recover from a badly injured ankle — an injury that happened during his nation’s run to the Copa America title in July.

It was just a scare.

Messi scored about two minutes apart in the second half, turning a 3-2 lead into a 5-2 rout and it was only a matter of time before the record would belong to Inter Miami. And the capper came in the 89th minute, Suarez flipping the ball to Messi for an easy score that finished off the hat trick.

Next up for Inter Miami: Game 1 of a best-of-three first-round series, at home Friday night. It will be the first home playoff match in club history.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Inter Miami midfielder Robert Taylor heads the ball during the first half of an MLS soccer match against the New England Revolution, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

The ball gets past Inter Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender on a goal scored by New England Revolution forward Luca Langoni during the first half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Inter Miami forward Luis Suarez (9) runs with the ball as New England Revolution midfielder Brandon Bye (15) defends during the first half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

New England Revolution forward Luca Langoni (41) celebrates after scoring a goal during the first half of an MLS soccer match against Inter Miami, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

New England Revolution forward Giacomo Vrioni (9) goes for the ball over Inter Miami midfielder Sergio Busquets (5) during the first half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

New England Revolution defender Xavier Arreaga, right, controls the ball as Inter Miami midfielder Benjamin Cremaschi, left, defends during the first half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi watches from the bench during the first half of an MLS soccer match against the New England Revolution, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi arrives for an MLS soccer match against the New England Revolution, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)