Electricity was slowly being restored to hospitals and some of the island's 11 million residents, but officials warned that its crumbling power network could fail again.
Cuba's aging grid has drastically eroded in recent years, leading to daily outages and an increase in significant blackouts.
The government blames its woes on a U.S. energy blockade after Trump in January warned of tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba.
Trump was asked during a meeting Tuesday in the Oval Office with the prime minister of Ireland about the U.S. seeking regime change in Cuba but deferred to his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
Rubio, who himself is of Cuban heritage, said the island “has an economy that doesn’t work in a political and governmental system. They can’t fix it.”
“So they have to change dramatically,” Rubio said. “What they announced yesterday is not dramatic enough. It’s not going to fix it.”
The Trump administration is demanding that Cuba release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization in return for a lifting of sanctions. Trump has also raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover of Cuba.”
Critical oil shipments from Venezuela were halted after the U.S. attacked the South American country in early January and arrested its then-president, Nicolás Maduro.
While Cuba produces 40% of its petroleum and has been generating its own power, it hasn’t been sufficient to meet demand as its electric grid continues to crumble.
