a new massive blackout was registered in Cubaaffecting a large part of the country and leaving millions of people without electricity during the night of this Tuesday and once again evidencing the collapse of the national energy system.
According to the state Electrical Union (UNE)the energy deficit reached 52%, the highest so far in 2024 under normal conditions. This level of impact exceeded previous records and forced the disconnection of circuits throughout the national territory.
The capacity of electricity generation It barely reached 1,556 megawatts (MW) compared to an estimated demand of 3,080 MW. During the peak consumption hours, the difference between supply and demand amounted to 1,524 MW, which led to a real impact of 1,594 MW.
This blackout was added to a long list of scheduled outages affecting cities such as Havanawhere residents faced blackouts lasting more than five hours, and Santiago de Cubawhere electricity was only guaranteed for four hours a day.
Social networks were filled with messages from Cubans affected by the situation.
“Remedios, Villa Clara. They just gave it to us after 14 hours without anything. It must be two hours of current and we return to the darkness”wrote one user.
From Madruga, Mayabequeanother noted: “Since 11 am and still nothing”.
The energy collapse in Cuba has its roots in the structural crisis of the National Energy System (SEN). The lack of fuel, attributed to the shortage of foreign currency for its import, and the deterioration of thermoelectric plants, some with more than 40 years of operation, have led the system to a critical state.
These obsolete facilities suffer constant breakdowns due to lack of maintenance and lack of significant investments for decades.
It is new blackout It occurs weeks after two catastrophic failures in the SEN. In October, a breakdown in the thermoelectric plant Antonio Guiteras It caused a total blackout in the country, from which it took three days to recover. Added to this was the impact of the hurricane Rafaelwhich forced another complete system shutdown just weeks later.
By then, while much of the territory was trying to recover electricity, protests arose in several towns, and the regime confirmed the arrest of an undetermined number of people for what it described as “disturbances of order.”
According to a statement from the Cuban prosecutor’s office on November 10, the arrests took place in places such as Havana, Mayabeque y Ciego de Ávilawhere processes are processed for crimes such as “public disorder”, “attack” and “damage”.
Organizations of human rights They reported arbitrary summonses and arrests at police stations. The dictatorship stated that the detainees will remain under “provisional prison” for alleged acts of “aggression towards authorities and inspectors,” which, according to the official statement, would have caused injuries and disturbances of order. However, the exact number of people arrested or details of the circumstances of these incidents were not specified.
In addition to the blackouts, the energy crisis has severely affected the Cuban economy, which contracted 1.9% in 2023, and has intensified social unrest.
(With information from EFE)
