HAVANA, Cuba (AFP)—Cuban authorities said on Thursday that electricity was restored for the majority of households after a blackout hit two-thirds of the beleaguered country, stemming from a lack of fuel under US pressure.

The grid that failed Wednesday and left Havana and much of the country without electricity has now been reconnected nationwide, with 80 per cent of households in the capital having power as of the late afternoon, the energy ministry said.

The blackout in the central and western parts of the country resulted from a breakdown beginning shortly after noon Wednesday at the Antonio Guiteras power plant, the island’s largest.

Authorities said that was the immediate trigger of the blackout but the underlying problem is “the weakness of the electrical grid due to a lack of fuel” to run generators that support that national grid.

Fuel is scarce because the United States is severely restricting oil shipments to Cuba.

Cuba’s electricity generation system is in shambles, with daily power outages of up to 20 hours the norm in parts of the island, which lacks the fuel needed to generate power.

The crisis in the country of 9.6 million people comes at a particularly tense time since the US ouster of Cuba’s top ally, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, on January 3.

Maduro’s administration supplied about half of Cuba’s fuel.

After his capture, Washington imposed an oil embargo on Cuba but later eased it amid warnings from other Caribbean countries that it could trigger an economic collapse and make everyday people suffer unduly.

Still, US President Donald Trump has maintained a blockade of sorts, and oil shipments from Caracas to Havana are in limbo.

No oil has been imported to the island since January 9, forcing airlines to curtail flights to the island and deepening a long-running economic crisis.