Cuba, which is currently facing an unprecedented energy crisis, began restoring its power system after a nationwide collapse of the entire grid left millions of people in the dark for the third time this month.
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba began restoring its power system Sunday, a day after a nationwide grid collapse left millions of people in the dark for the third time this month.
About 72,000 customers in the capital, including five hospitals, had power back on early Sunday, according to a report from the state-run Electric Union and the Ministry of Energy and Mines, but that’s only a fraction of Havana’s total population of about 2 million.
In Havana and provinces such as western Matanzas and eastern Holguin, local energy microsystems were created to supply the most vital centers. Residents in several areas of the capital told The Associated Press that power was restored in the early hours of the morning.
Cuba is currently facing an unprecedented energy crisis. Its old grid has eroded drastically in recent years, but the government has also blamed the outages on a US energy embargo, after President Donald Trump in January warned of tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba. His administration is demanding that Cuba release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. Trump has also raised the possibility of a “friendly Cuba deal.”
Another reason Cuba has struggled with dwindling oil is the departure from the US of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, which halted critical oil shipments from the country that had been a staunch ally of Havana.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel has said that the island has not received oil from foreign suppliers for three months. Cuba produces barely 40% of the fuel it needs to power its economy.
Daily outages have a significant impact on the population, whose lives are disrupted by reduced working hours, lack of electricity for cooking and damage to household appliances, among many other consequences.
“With the blackout and the low voltage, my refrigerator broke — it was today. The day before yesterday, the voltage also went down around 10 o’clock at night,” Suleydi Crespo, a 33-year-old woman with two young children, told the AP on Saturday. “If there is no electricity tomorrow, we will not be able to get water.”
Residents also expressed their tiredness from the continuous interruptions, whether nationwide or partial.
The Cuban Electric Union, which reports to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, reported that the total shutdown of the national power system was caused by a sudden shutdown of a generating unit at the Nuevitas power plant in Camaguey province, without providing details on the specific cause of the failure.
The latest nationwide outage occurred on Monday. It took several days to restore power.
Saturday’s outage was the second in the past week and the third in March.
“We have to get used to continuing our usual routine. What else can we do? We have to try to survive. Get used to the events, with or without electricity,” said Dagnay Alarcón, a 35-year-old shopkeeper.
The authorities and Díaz-Canel himself have acknowledged the seriousness of the current energy situation. Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines Argelio Abad Vigo explained this week that the country has gone three months without receiving supplies of oil, diesel, gasoline, aviation fuel or liquefied petroleum gas – all vital to the economy and energy production.
Auto fuel sales have been rationed, airlines have suspended flights or reduced frequencies, many workplaces have reduced hours.
Trump has suggested for months that Cuba’s government is on the verge of collapse. After Cuba’s power grid went down once before, Trump told reporters that he believed he would soon have the “honor of taking over Cuba.”
María Regla Cardoso, a housewife in Havana, said she is not interested in politics and that Cubans should continue to live.
“I leave everything in God’s hands. Whatever shape the situation takes, we just have to deal with it.” By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ Associated Press
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