Four power cuts in a weekend born of the state’s penury have caused nationwide struggles and shortages

Dusk has become a particularly frenetic time in Havana, as Cuba prepared for a third night without electricity after repeated failed attempts to restart the national grid.

Long queues formed for bread in the capital earlier in the day. The previous night, people had emerged from humid homes to search for food, drink, news. “What’s the point of staying at home?” asked Alejandro Hernandez outside a bar in the neighbourhood of Vedado.