HAVANA — Cuba's power grid was restored on Sunday, officials said, a day after the second nationwide blackout in a week as the crisis-hit island struggles under an oil blockade imposed by the United States.

Two-thirds of Havana regained power in the afternoon, the capital's electricity company said, a day after the energy ministry reported a "total disconnection" of the national electric system in the country of 9.6 million people.

"Thanks to the efforts of our electrical workers, the SEN (National Electric System) was restored,"Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz said on X late on Sunday.

Authorities cautioned, however, that demand would still exceed supply.

The outage comes as the Cuban government has faced growing pressure from Washington, which imposed the de facto oil blockade in January and mused this past week about "taking" the Caribbean island.

A top Cuban diplomat said the country's military was "preparing these days for the possibility of military aggression".

"We truly hope that it doesn't occur," Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio told NBC's Meet the Press in an interview taped before the blackout.

He said Havana was willing to continue talking with Washington, but discussing changes to its political system was off the table.

"Cuba has no quarrel with the United States. We do have the need and the right to protect ourselves. But we are willing to sit down," Fernandez de Cossio said in the interview, which aired on Sunday.

There have been seven nationwide blackouts since 2024, making life more difficult for Cubans who fear food will spoil in refrigerators, among other problems in a country in economic crisis.

"The truth is, it gets harder every day to live with this situation," Alina Quinones, a 48-year-old nurse, told Agence France-Presse as she headed to the Havana hospital where she works, after barely sleeping.

She had no power, internet or phone connection, making it impossible to reach relatives in Matanzas, a city east of the capital.

The breakdowns have intensified since Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro was forcibly seized in a US military operation in January. Washington subsequently threatened to impose tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba.

No oil has arrived since Jan 9, hitting the power sector, while public transport has dwindled and airlines have curtailed flights to the island, a blow to its crucial tourism business.

Agencies via Xinhua