Cuba's electrical grid collapses for the second time this week

10 Jul (Reuters) - Cuba's national electricity grid suffered a collapse on Friday, said UNE, the country's grid operator, marking the second total outage in a week and the fourth this year.

"Protocols are being activated to begin the recovery process", informed the Ministry of Energy in a post on social media.

Chronic power outages have fueled growing social tensions, sparking sporadic pot-banging protests in Havana following Monday's nationwide blackout.

US President Donald Trump imposed an oil blockade on the Caribbean island after Washington ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on January 3.

Venezuela was Cuba's main fuel supplier, and subsequent pressure from the US also led Mexico to halt oil shipments to the island.

Havana blames the collapse of its infrastructure on the decades-old US trade embargo, while Washington blames the blackouts on mismanagement of the Cuban state economy.

(Reporting by Natalia Siniawski, editing by Daina Beth Solomon)

Source: Antena 1