After several unsuccessful attempts to restart the national electricity grid, it was beginning to get dark and Cuba was preparing for its third night without electricity.
Dusk has become a very busy time in the Cuban capital. The second night without electricity, people came out of the humidity of their homes in search of food, drinks and news. “What’s the point of staying home?” Alejandro Hernández asked himself as he left a bar in the Havana neighborhood of El Vedado.
Much of the island began receiving electricity again on Sunday, until another power outage occurred late in the afternoon, as had been happening every night over the weekend.
Humor, a fundamental ingredient in the life of Cubans, becomes more acidic. “Light the Morro again, we haven’t all left yet,” people said, referring to the Havana lighthouse. In the last two years, more than 10% of the population has emigrated. That is, more than a million people have left the island.
Walking through the streets at night in the dark has become dangerous. Not because of crime, but because of bad sidewalks and open sewers.
With the State having difficulties acquiring fuel for its five main thermoelectric plants on world markets, electricity outages of up to 20 hours a day have become a common experience for the entire island.
This lack of money is also behind the water shortage, due to failures in pumps and pipes; accumulation of garbage, due to the reduction in the collection rate; and hunger, due to the drastic increase in food prices.
The Cuban Government blames the six decades of US embargo against the island for this painful situation. “The cruelest blockade”, in the words of its president, Miguel Díaz-Canel. “We have not had stable fuel supplies so that the system can operate at its full capacity and with all its stability,” he said on Sunday night.
Others reject this argument, such as the economist Pedro Monreal. In his opinion, what is happening is a consequence of one of the last centrally planned States left in the world: “It is a bankruptcy caused by internal decisions.”
This unprecedented energy crisis (except for times when the island is directly hit by cyclones) was announced with the government’s call on Thursday for all non-essential workers in its extensive bureaucracy to stay home and conserve electricity. .
The measure was not enough to keep the electrical grid in operation, which collapsed on Friday, shortly after 11 in the morning. The main generating station, that of Matanzas, had been out of service. Only those who had their own personal generators had electricity.
Successive attempts by Unión Eléctrica de Cuba to launch the network have since failed. Power returned in some neighborhoods, usually near hospitals. But at 6 a.m. on Saturday, and again at 10 p.m., the electricity went out across much of the country with a disconcerting thud. The entire system collapsed again at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.
With engineers trying to replenish the system, the most affected area has been western Cuba, including Havana. An unpleasant surprise for its inhabitants, who until now had been saved from the worst cuts due to the Government’s fear of protests. The July 2021 protests in Cuba, the worst in memory, began in a town west of Havana due to a demonstration against power outages.
Power outages can be especially terrible in a Caribbean country with difficulties in securing its food supply. Without fans, high nighttime temperatures can prevent people from sleeping. The lack of electricity also interrupts the operation of refrigerators and causes food to spoil. People are calling family and friends on the phone to ask if they have a place to store the meat rations that the State provides to the most vulnerable population.
The Government has tried to keep the population informed throughout the energy crisis. It was senior government officials who announced on the social network with problems.
In a photograph published by an official Cuban media, Díaz Canel and his team were seen behind two technicians in the office of the National Electricity Office. On one side was former vice president Ramiro Valdés, now 92 years old.
The five most important plants in the country are around half a century old. According to University of Texas academic Jorge Piñón, a specialist in the Cuban electrical system, they have far exceeded their useful life.
The Prime Minister of Cuba, Manuel Marrero, has called for the transition towards renewable energies and for the growing Cuban private sector to pay more for the energy it consumes.
The government sends the message that its technicians are working “incessantly,” but, from the comments in the articles of the state media CubaDebate, you can see the anger of the people. “This should not happen,” wrote a resident of Plaza, a Havana neighborhood named for the Plaza de la Revolución. “Millions of people without water or electricity, what’s the point of all the explanations?”
On Saturday, long after dark, the streets of the Havana neighborhood of El Vedado were practically empty. The few people who were outside were running home. Only two members of an army patrol walked slowly.
Translated by Francisco de Zárate
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