• What Happened: Cuba's national electric grid suffered a total collapse Monday, leaving roughly 10 million people in the dark. It is the third major blackout in four months and the first total grid failure since Trump's oil blockade cut off fuel shipments entirely.
  • Why It Matters: Cuban President Diaz-Canel confirmed Friday the island has not received an oil shipment in three months. Tens of thousands of surgeries have been postponed. Anti-government protests have broken out. Cuba has quietly opened talks with Washington.
  • Bottom Line: Trump's pressure campaign is working. The communist regime is on its knees, and Trump says he believes he will have the honor of taking Cuba.

Cuba went completely dark Monday. Every light on the island. The national electric grid suffered a total collapse, leaving roughly 10 million Cubans without power in the most catastrophic blackout the island has seen since the United States effectively shut off its oil supply.

Grid operator UNE announced the "complete shutdown of the national grid" on social media Monday and said crews were investigating the cause. Officials began the painstaking process of restarting thermoelectric plants one by one. "It must be done gradually to avoid setbacks," said Lazaro Guerra, the ministry's electricity director. "Because systems, when very weak, are more susceptible to failure."

It is the third major blackout in four months, and the first total collapse since the Trump administration's oil blockade took hold. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel confirmed on Friday that no oil shipment had reached the island in more than three months. His government has been forced to postpone surgeries for tens of thousands of patients. Trash is piling up in neighborhoods across Havana because there is not enough fuel to run the dump trucks. Schools have cut hours. Hospitals have cut services. On Saturday, residents in the central city of Moron took to the streets in a rare violent protest, attacking a Communist Party office.

Venezuela, once Cuba's primary oil supplier, has sent nothing to the island since Trump captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January and halted those shipments. Trump also warned of tariffs against any other nation that sells oil to Cuba, cutting off Mexico and Russia as potential lifelines. Cuba has received only two small vessels carrying oil imports all year, according to Reuters satellite tracking.

The same day the lights went out across Cuba, Trump was asked about it in the Oval Office.

"You know, all my life I've been hearing about United States and Cuba, when will the United States have the honor of taking Cuba?" Trump said. "I do believe I'll be having the honor of taking Cuba. That'd be a good honor. That's a big honor. Taking Cuba in some form. Whether I free it, take it. I think I could do anything I want with it. They are a very weakened nation right now."

When asked whether a takeover would look like Venezuela or Iran, Trump told reporters: "I can't tell you that."

Cuba has quietly opened talks with Washington. Diaz-Canel confirmed Friday that the two governments have been in contact to "identify the bilateral problems that need a solution." The Trump administration has made clear its demand: Cuba must release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization. The communist government that has ruled the island for 65 years is running out of options, out of oil, and now out of power.

Trump's pressure campaign is working.