Power plant failure causes blackout in cash-strapped Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — Cuba was rushing Friday to restore electricity after the failure of the island’s largest power plant caused a nationwide blackout, following weeks of prolonged outages in the cash-strapped country.

The capital, Havana, came to a virtual standstill as schools closed, public transportation stopped and traffic lights stopped.

The head of electricity supply at the Energy Ministry, Lazara Guerra, said the process of restoring electricity to communist Cuba’s 11 million residents was in its early stages.

“Currently we have a certain level of electricity production” which will be used to start power plants in several regions of the country, he added.

Guerra previously told state media that the power system collapsed due to the unexpected shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras Power Plant, the largest of the island’s eight decrepit coal-fired power plants.

The outage follows weeks of power outages, lasting up to 20 hours a day in some provinces, which prompted Prime Minister Manuel Marrero to declare an “energy emergency” on Thursday.

The government suspended all non-essential public services on Thursday to prioritize the supply of electricity to homes.

Schools across the country are now closed until Monday. Authorities in Havana said hospitals and other essential facilities, powered by generators, would remain open.

“It’s crazy,” Eloy Fon, an 80-year-old retiree living in central Havana, told AFP.

“This shows the fragility of our electricity system… We have no reserves, there is nothing to support the country, we live from day to day.”

Barbara Lopez, a 47-year-old digital content creator, said angrily that she had “barely been able to work for two days and now this: What am I doing?

“This is the worst I’ve seen in 47 years,” she said. “They’ve really ruined everything now… we have no electricity or mobile data.”

For three months, Cubans have been struggling with chronic power cuts, which have become longer and more frequent.

The national energy deficit hovers around 30 percent, but on Thursday it reached nearly 50 percent of the island’s needs, causing widespread frustration and anger.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on Friday X that the government “would not rest” until the lights were turned back on.

He blamed the situation on Cuba’s difficulties in acquiring fuel for its power plants, which he attributed to the strengthening of the six-decade-old U.S. trade embargo imposed by former President Donald Trump.

Cuba is in the grip of its worst economic crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a key ally, in the early 1990s – marked by skyrocketing inflation and shortages of food, medicine, fuel and even water.

With no respite in sight, many Cubans have emigrated.

More than 700,000 people entered the United States between January 2022 and August 2024, according to U.S. officials.

If the authorities mainly blame the American embargo, the island is also suffering the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic which is hitting its crucial tourism sector, as well as poor economic management.

To strengthen its grid, Cuba leased seven floating power plants from Turkish companies and also added numerous small diesel generators.

In July 2021, the power outages were the spark for an unprecedented wave of public anger.

Thousands of Cubans took to the streets shouting “We are hungry” and “Freedom!” » in a rare challenge to the government.

One person was killed and dozens more were injured during the protests. According to the Mexico-based human rights organization Justicia 11J, 600 people arrested during the unrest remain in prison.

In 2022, the island also suffered months of daily power outages lasting several hours, capped by a nationwide blackout on September 27 caused by Hurricane Ian.