Havana residents will know what other Cubans have been going through since May. From August, they too will be affected by daily power outages of four hours and more. According to the Tribuna de la Habana, which reported on a meeting of local authorities, the latter initially provide that each of Havana’s six municipalities (where a fifth of Havana’s 11.2 million inhabitants live) will have electricity every three days during the Lunch peak off. It’s not a new problem. Over the past year, recurring power outages sparked historic protests that shook the country on July 11-12, 2021, with tens of thousands of Cubans taking to the streets chanting “We’re hungry,” “Down with the dictatorship.” In the 1990s, during the “special period” following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba’s ally, power outages could last as late as 4 p.m.
bottlenecks
The cuts reflect the terrible economic crisis Cuba has been going through since the new US sanctions in 2019. It worsened with the pandemic, which hit the tourism sector hard, and then with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Soaring prices for food, fuel and sea transport have exposed the country’s dependence on imports and weaknesses, particularly when it comes to infrastructure. Cuba’s economy shrank 10.9% in 2020 and has recovered just 1.3% over the past year. For more than two years, Cubans have faced food and medicine shortages, long lines to buy scarce goods, high prices and transportation problems. Power outages have only added to the frustration, including the exodus of more than 150,000 Cubans to the United States since October. The crisis is so great that Havana had to cancel its carnival scheduled for August 16-26.
Fires in two power plants
Jorge Pinon, director of the Energy and Environment Program in Latin America and the Caribbean at the University of Texas at Austin, believes Cuba’s entire electricity grid is on the brink of collapse after two of the country’s 20 already aging power plants recently burned down, with the others constantly breaking down.
“The announced planned cuts are not solidarity but a necessity to avoid a possible total collapse of the system,” he added. According to the public company National Electric Union (UNE), 95% of Cuba’s energy production comes from fossil fuels, most of which are imported. The increase in world market prices has increased the cost of these imports by 30%. At the same time, of the 20 power plants in the country, 19 are over 35 years old, the government conceded, which has little room for maneuver in the face of maintenance work and repeated outages. “The emergency situation that the power system is going through will continue and the recovery will be gradual,” Edier Guzman, a UNE official, recently admitted to state television.
(With Portal and AFP)