Those who live in Cuba say it was a tragedy foretold. The total blackout on the national grid – which lasted for almost five days starting on Friday the 18th – occurred after a breakdown in one of the island’s main power plants. Behind it is a long-standing energy crisis that has among its main reasons the lack of fuel to power the generation plants and the deplorable state of the country’s thermoelectric plants, obsolete and inefficient after more than 30 years of operation. There is also much more demand than supply.
Although the blackout is no longer total, many areas of Cuba still spend almost most of the day without electricity. The crisis, which hit the eastern part of the island even harder due to the passage of a hurricane, tests the patience of Cubans, who are fed up with the shortage of all types of services and products. “The situation has gotten much worse in recent times due to the lack of fuel and the poor administration of the regime,” Camila Acosta, an independent Cuban journalist who lives in Havana, tells El Comercio.
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“The crisis of blackouts throughout the country is something that is just beginning, but it has been happening in many areas for months. In several provinces, They only have three or four hours of electricity a day. But now it completely affected Havana, the capital, which is the area that the regime always tries to prioritize. “That shows how bad things are,” he adds.
A problem that persists
- 31.5% of Cuba was without electricity yesterday, according to the state company Unión Eléctrica (UNE).
- 7 of the 20 units energy production in the country’s terrestrial thermoelectric plants are damaged or undergoing maintenance.
The regime led by Miguel Díaz-Canel, political heir of the Castros, has blamed the blockade imposed by the United States and has recognized that the problem does not have an immediate solution. Basically, what happens is that Cuba has a deficit in energy production, so the authorities have to cut off the electricity to ration it. Experts explain that this deficit is due to the lack of investment in the sector, but also to the debt that Cuba has with the countries that sell it oil since Venezuela no longer gives the Caribbean island the same amounts as before.
The hard day to day
Blackouts are a problem for Cuba because most things run on electricity, explains a source from this newspaper who lives on the island and who prefers to keep his name confidential. “The kitchens are electric. Due to high temperatures, people have air conditioning. You also have, for example, shortages. You have a greater accumulation of perishable goods. And all that goes in the refrigerator. People have more than one refrigerator. So, it is a situation that is more critical than anywhere else,” he points out.
Critical situation
The energy crisis has worsened since the end of August. Before the total blackout, supply outages were already at historic highs, with maximum impact rates between 41% and 51%.
He adds that Cubans know well that the regime does not have the money to deliver products that were previously imported, such as milk and flour. “And not only can it no longer meet the demand of its market, but now it cannot do so with what is produced internally. Agriculture has a problem of absence of capital, absence of labor. Nobody wants to invest in agriculture. They don’t give you the inputs, the tools,” he says.
The massive blackout caused a lot of food to go to waste, which is a blow when shortages are the rule. Acosta says that the amount of food that Cubans receive with the supply book is insufficient. “The Cuban survives on what he can buy from abroad. The basic basket has been an obsolete mechanism for a long time, no one in Cuba survives even a week with what they give in the basic basket. Sometimes they don’t even give eggs or meat,” he laments.
But the situation does not end there: services that normally did not collapse have also collapsed, such as water and telephone, so this time the discontent is much greater.
In terms of communications, services are limited, but not as much as in the past. Most Cubans opt for mobile Internet because it is easier to have a cell phone than a computer. And, although there are applications that are effectively blocked, more and more residents can connect to the world through the Internet, which brings citizens, especially the youngest, closer to the realities that exist beyond the island.
mass exodus
The response of Cubans to the crisis is migration. Nearly two million people – almost 20% of the population – have left the country since 2022, an unprecedented number in the history of Cuba, according to expert estimates collected by the newspaper “The New York Times”. Most leave with the goal of reaching the United States.
“The youth in Cuba have realized that they have no hope for a better future, not even sacrificing themselves to have a university degree or a business. People see that to prosper they have to leave the country.”
For them, there is no longer hope on the island, not even through the protests. The regime has intensified its repression since the historic demonstrations of July 2021 and has not allowed concentrations of similar scope. President Díaz-Canel has warned that he will severely punish those who promote disorder, after the current crisis caused timid street protests. The fatigue is such that the government itself has promoted the exodus to release social pressure.
“It is a discontent that manifests itself in a deep discomfort and great hopelessness. People don’t see the light at the end of the road. It is not even like Venezuela, where regime change for the people represents an opportunity. Not here. Faced with boredom, Cubans prefer to simply leave,” says our source in Cuba. He adds that Cubans go wherever they can. “The immigration issue is unstoppable. They are families, there are many children. And you go inland and there are more and more abandoned towns. Towns where no one lives.”
“They are tired of the blackouts and they don’t want to go out and protest because protesting doesn’t imply change. Protesting means you will probably end up going to jail,” he adds.
Could the blackouts be the trigger for social mobilization on the island? Acosta points out that it is unpredictable because the context has changed. In 2021, Cuba was closed due to the pandemic, there were no inbound or outbound travel and the entire society was practically at a standstill. Currently, many have already been able to leave the country and there has been a lot of terror.
“We will have to see what happens. The blackouts, the shortages and the crisis will continue. It is very likely that in the coming months we will see another energy collapse because the infrastructure of the sector is quite bad. We will see how far the endurance of the Cubans goes,” concludes Acosta.
VERY ACTIVE REPRESSION
Between discontent and fear of protesting
On July 11, 2021, Cuba experienced the largest anti-government protests in decades, in which thousands of Cubans fed up with the problems derived from the COVID-19 pandemic took to the streets to demand electricity, food and political change. The demonstrations included broadcasts through social networks and fueled hope for change on the island.
However, hundreds of people were sent to prison, persecuted and threatened as part of a brutal campaign of repression that has prevented other national protests of that magnitude.
“We have more than a thousand political prisoners and the protests that have taken place after July 11, 2021 have also increased that list of political prisoners. There have been brutal beatings and the fear that has been instilled since then is much greater,” notes Camila Acosta.