A woman works in a restaurant during a power outage in Havana, Cuba, on October 17, 2024.
Norris Perez | Reuters
A town in Cuba’s far east was recovering from flooding that killed at least six people on Tuesday. hurricane oscar across the island east coast As a tropical storm with high winds and heavy rain.
Parts of the Cuban capital were illuminated on Monday night Widespread power outage A number of protests were triggered, with the government sternly warning that any unrest would be punished.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on national television that rescue and recovery efforts were continuing in the southern town of San Antonio and that officials had not yet entered some flooded areas.
“The whole country has come to a complete standstill,” said Mayde Quiñones, a 55-year-old housewife who cares for her mother-in-law, who is in her 80s. “It hurts everyone, but it hurts the elderly the most. ”
The Cuban government has a low tolerance for civil disobedience, and Díaz-Canel warned on state television on Sunday that “we will not allow any acts of vandalism or allow anyone to disturb the peace of the people.”
Prolonged power outages across the country followed a massive blackout on Thursday night, part of a nationwide energy crisis that has led to the largest protests in Cuba in nearly 30 years in July 2021. Smaller local protests followed in March.
all part of one serious economic crisis This prompted more than half a million Cubans to flee to the United States and thousands more to Europe.
The Cuban government and its allies blame Cuba’s economic problems on the 62-year-old U.S. trade embargo, but White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday that the Cuban government has “chronically mismanaged its economic policies and resources.” It has undoubtedly increased the suffering of the Cuban people.
Electricity remains relatively cheap but increasingly difficult to obtain. The Cuban government said on state television Monday evening that it had a capacity of 1,300 megawatts when peak demand could reach 3 gigawatts. Authorities said power was intermittent in about 80% of Havana as of Monday afternoon, but people remained fearful.
“Our refrigerators are full of food and we are scared,” said Juan Estrada, 53, a small business owner whose business in downtown Havana has been without food since Friday morning. Continuous power supply.
Energy Secretary Vincent De Lao Levy said at a news conference that he hoped more reliable power would be restored by Tuesday morning, but that the shutdown would remain open until at least Thursday.
He said Oscar would bring “additional inconvenience” to Cuba’s recovery because it would affect the country’s main power plants, such as the Felton power plant in the city of Holguin and the Lunt power plant in Santiago de Cuba.
Many of Havana’s 2 million residents cook on makeshift wood stoves in the streets before food spoils in refrigerators. People lined up to buy subsidized food and few gas stations were open.
Friday’s failure at the Antonio Guitras power plant is the latest problem in the country’s energy distribution, where electricity is restricted and rotated between different regions at different times.
The outage is considered the worst since Hurricane Ian hit Cuba as a Category 3 storm in 2022, damaging power facilities. It took the government several days to fix them.
Local authorities initially said the outages were due to increased demand for air conditioning in small and medium-sized businesses and residences. Later, the outages became more severe due to the failure of old thermal power plants that had not been properly maintained and the lack of fuel to operate some facilities.
About The Author
