Cuba was on Friday racing to restore electricity after the failure of the island’s biggest power plant caused a nationwide blackout, coming on the heels of weeks of extended outages across the cash-strapped country.
The capital, Havana, came to a virtual standstill as schools closed, public transportation ground to a halt and traffic lights stopped functioning.
Lazaro Guerra, the head of electricity supply at the Cuban Ministry of Energy and Mines, said the process of restoring power to Cuba’s 11 million inhabitants was in its early stages.
Photo: Reuters
“Currently, we have some level of electricity generation” that would be used to start up power plants in several regions of the country, he said.
Guerra previously told state media that the power system had collapsed due to the unexpected shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras power plant, the biggest of the island’s eight decrepit coal-fired power plants.
The blackout followed weeks of power outages, lasting up to 20 hours a day in some provinces, which prompted Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero on Thursday to declare an “energy emergency.”
The government on Thursday suspended all nonessential public services to prioritize electricity supply to homes.
Schools across the country have been closed until tomorrow. Authorities in Havana said hospitals and other essential facilities, which are powered by generators, would remain open.
“This is crazy,” said Eloy Fon, an 80-year-old retiree living in central Havana. “It shows the fragility of our electricity system... We have no reserves, there is nothing to sustain the country; we are living day-to-day.”
Barbara Lopez, a 47-year-old digital content creator, fumed that she had “barely been able to work for two days and now this: What do I do?”
“It’s the worst I’ve seen in 47 years,” she said. “They’ve really messed up now ... we have no power or mobile data.”
For three months, Cubans have been battling chronic blackouts that had become longer and more frequent.
The national energy shortfall has hovered at about 30 percent, but on Thursday it rose to nearly 50 percent of the island’s needs, causing widespread frustration and anger.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Friday wrote on social media that the government would “not rest” until the lights were back on.
He blamed the situation on Cuba’s difficulties in acquiring fuel for its power plants, which he attributed to the tightening of a six-decade-long US trade embargo under former president Donald Trump.
Cuba is in the throes of its worst economic crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a key ally in the early 1990s — marked by sky-high inflation and shortages of food, medicine, fuel and even water.
With no relief in sight, many Cubans have emigrated.
More than 700,000 entered the US between January 2022 and August, US officials said.
In July 2021, blackouts were the spark for an unprecedented outpouring 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 were injured in the protests. Mexico-based human rights organization Justicia 11J reported that 600 people detained during the unrest remain in prison.
North Korea blew up sections of roads in its own territory that are part of links once used to connect the southern part of the peninsula with the north, in a show of defiance after it accused Seoul of flying drones over Pyongyang. North Korea detonated bombs north of its eastern and western borders at around noon yesterday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. South Korea’s military later fired off warning shots within its border, said the JCS, which also confirmed there were no reports of damage in South Korea from the detonations. A video released by the South Korean
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is in “excellent health” and fit for the presidency, according to a medical report published by the White House on Saturday as she challenged her rival, former US president Donald Trump, to publish his own health records. “Vice President Harris remains in excellent health,” her physician Joshua Simmons said in the report, adding that she “possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.” Speaking to reporters ahead of a trip to North Carolina, Harris called Trump’s unwillingness to publish his records “a further example
‘PROVOCATION’: Accusing Seoul of flying drones over Pyongyang to drop propaganda leaftlets, the North told eight artillery brigades ‘to get fully ready to open fire’ Tensions on the Korean Peninsula rose again after North Korea ordered troops along its southern border to be ready to fire and military leaders in Seoul said Pyongyang might be preparing to blow up roads connecting the two nations. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected efforts under way in North Korea to destroy the eastern and western roads connecting the two nations, warning that an explosion could take place as early as yesterday. That followed North Korea’s announcement last week that it would “completely separate” its territory from the South, blaming Seoul’s joint drills with the US and the
A member of chart-topping K-pop group NewJeans yesterday tearfully testified to South Korean lawmakers as part of an inquiry into workplace harassment, amid a boardroom drama over her super producer. In recent years, South Korea’s K-pop industry has become a global juggernaut powered by the success of groups like BTS, but domestically it is known for imposing strict standards and controls on fledgling stars. Rising K-pop idols are expected to adhere to their powerful agency’s behavior and appearance guidelines, with many stars describing receiving extreme backlash from fans over perceived mistakes in their personal lives, for example dating. Hanni, 20, who is