Massive power outage paralyzes Cuba

Photo: Adalberto Roque Agence France-Presse Cuba is currently experiencing its worst crisis in three decades, with food and medicine shortages and chronic power cuts.

Agence France-Presse in Havana

Published at 17:29 Updated at 18:52

• Americas

Cuba has been suffering from a total power outage since midday Friday, after the island's main thermal power plant shut down.

The streets of Havana were deserted, with no public transportation, little traffic and no traffic lights. Some private businesses remained open. Classes were suspended throughout the country until Monday.

“The system is without electricity throughout the country,” after the Antonio Guiteras plant shut down, Lazaro Guerra, director general of electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, told state television.

Guerra said that “the system collapsed” when the power plant shut down.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on X that the government was mobilized and that “there will be no rest until the power is restored.” He assures that solving this “very sensitive energy problem” is the “absolute priority.”

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

On Thursday, he announced that Cuba was in a situation of “energy emergency” due to difficulties in buying the fuel needed to power its power plants, due to the strengthening of the embargo that Washington has imposed on the island since 1962.

“Aberrant”, “terrible”

“It's aberrant,” Eloy Font, an 80-year-old retiree living in central Havana, told AFP. “This shows the fragility of our electrical system […] there is no reserve, there is no way to keep this country standing, we live from day to day,” he fumed.

For three months, Cubans have suffered from recurring power cuts that have become more and more frequent. On Thursday, the national energy deficit, which had been hovering around 30%, reached 50%, reinforcing the population's exasperation.

“Two days ago I could barely work and now what am I going to do? It's terrible to live like this, in 47 years I haven't seen anything worse,” Barbara Lopez, a digital content creator, laments to AFP.

Decay

The first restrictions date back to March, with the government's growing difficulty in obtaining fuel and parts needed to operate and repair the country's aging thermoelectric power plants.

In recent weeks, in several provinces, power cuts have lasted more than 20 hours a day.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero announced the suspension of all non-essential public services in order to prioritize the supply of electricity to hospitals, businesses and homes.

On the island, electricity is produced from eight old thermal power plants, which are sometimes out of order or undergoing maintenance, as well as seven floating power plants, which the government leases to Russian companies, and from generators.

Most of these infrastructures require fuel to operate.

The island is currently experiencing its worst crisis in three decades, with shortages of food and medicine and chronic power cuts.