Cuba: 70% of the population has electricity again

Electricity service was gradually being restored Tuesday in Cuba, where more than 70% of the population now has power four days after a massive blackout that paralyzed the island.

“This morning (Tuesday), 70.89% of customers in Cuba are receiving electricity service,” the Ministry of Energy and Mines said on its X account, adding that authorities were continuing their efforts to “increase electricity coverage in the country.”

On Sunday, the government said it hoped to restore power to the island by Monday evening, or Tuesday at the latest.

On Friday, a breakdown at the country's main thermoelectric plant, located in the western province of Matanzas, caused the total collapse of the network. Authorities have been trying to restore electricity service to the population ever since.

On Monday night, Havana's two million residents had power back and the capital had regained much of its traffic and activities, AFP found.

“We can only be happy. It was about time! I had been sleeping badly for days, without a fan,” Magalis Manzano, 81, a resident of the Old Havana neighborhood, rejoiced to AFP.

“Now we must not have it cut off again, that's what I ask God!” she added.

A floating power plant at the port of Havana, October 21, 2024 © AFP – YAMIL LAGE

The energy crisis affecting the island of 10 million inhabitants has also been aggravated by the passage of Hurricane Oscar, which left six dead in the east of the island and caused significant material damage.

“Six human lives have been lost in the municipality of San Antonio del Sur”, in the province of Guantanamo (east), Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel announced Monday evening.

In addition to the municipality of San Antonio del Sur, that of Imias, located in the same province, at the eastern end of the island, was badly hit by the bad weather. “Flooding at levels never recorded historically in these two areas occurred,” added the head of state.

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More than 366 millimeters of precipitation were recorded in 24 hours at the extreme eastern tip of the country, the authorities announced.

Hurricane Oscar, which made landfall on Sunday evening with winds approaching 130 km/h, before being downgraded to a tropical storm, finally moved away from Cuban territory on Monday evening and the authorities lifted the alert on Tuesday in the east of the country.

– “Energy Emergency” –

Faced with the persistence of the energy crisis, the Cuban president warned on Sunday that his government would not tolerate disturbances to public order, while residents took to the streets on Saturday and Sunday evening to demonstrate their exasperation.

Power outages were one of the triggers for the historic demonstrations of July 11, 2021.

A garbage barricade erected in Havana on October 20, 2024, in protest during the third night without electricity © AFP – YAMIL LAGE

Faced with the energy crisis and the weather situation, authorities have suspended classes and non-essential public services until Wednesday, with only hospitals and crucial services for the population remaining operational.

Cuba is facing its worst crisis in thirty years. The massive blackout, which follows chronic blackouts, is compounded by shortages of food, medicine and soaring inflation.

On Thursday, on the eve of the blackout, Cuba's president announced that the island was in an “energy emergency” due to difficulties in purchasing the fuel needed to power its power plants, due to the tightening of the embargo imposed by Washington since 1962.

In Cuba, electricity is produced by eight dilapidated thermoelectric power plants, which are sometimes broken down or undergoing maintenance, as well as by several floating power plants leased to Turkish companies, and by generators. The use of renewable energy is still in its infancy.

In September 2022, the island had already experienced a general blackout after Hurricane Ian hit the west of the island. It took several days for electricity to be fully restored in Havana, triggering sporadic protests in some neighborhoods of the capital. It took several weeks in the areas affected by the hurricane.

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