HAVANA (AP) — Cubans anxiously awaited on Sunday the restoration of the electricity service that had failed due to technical issues on Friday, a situation that could become even more tense due to the passage of a cyclone through the eastern part of the island.
Authorities hope to be able to restore the national energy system, which collapsed after a breakdown at the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant on Monday or Tuesday morning, said the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, at a press conference.
However, De la O Levy acknowledged that the passage of Hurricane Oscar, whose trajectory will affect the eastern part of the country and could be making landfall on Sunday night, will add an "additional inconvenience" to the electrical recovery, as that area houses a "strong power generation hub" for electricity.
Exactly in that area are the Felton plants in Holguín, Renté in Santiago de Cuba, the one in Moa, and one of the barges that the authorities have contracted from Turkey to produce the fluid.
Why did the energy system in Cuba collapse?
The energy emergency began on Thursday night when, during peak hours, 50% of the country was left in darkness due to a lack of electricity generation. This situation led to a special appearance by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, who announced energy-saving measures such as the suspension of non-essential classes or activities, as well as an increase in tariffs.
However, the most critical situation unfolded on Friday morning with the total collapse of the national energy system caused by a leak in a boiler at the Antonio Guiteras power plant in Matanzas, as explained by the Energy Minister on Sunday.
On Sunday, some neighborhoods in Havana, the capital of Cuba with around 2 million inhabitants, already had electricity, but the majority were still in the dark. The impact of the blackout goes beyond lighting, as services such as water supply also depend on electricity and thousands of households use it to prepare food.
People started cooking on the streets with improvised wood stoves before the food went bad in refrigerators, as confirmed by The Associated Press during a tour.
But the Friday outage at the Antonio Guiteras plant, which was caused by the collapse of the entire island's system, was just the most recent in a series of problems with the energy distribution in a country where electricity has been restricted, blackouts are frequent, and there is even a schedule of sector-wise four-hour daily cuts.
On Sunday morning, many people stood in line for hours to buy bread at the few bakeries that were able to reopen.
Minister De la O stated that around 160,000 clients— not individuals— had already been reconnected in the capital and they would be in a better situation if the system had not experienced two additional partial collapses while they were trying to restore it on Saturday. He also mentioned that they had received communications expressing willingness to cooperate from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, and Russia, among other nations.
The energy emergency is mainly due to three factors: an increase in demand, a lack of fuel in the country, and frequent breakdowns in old thermoelectric power plants. The latter two factors are caused by US sanctions, which on one hand prevent Cuba from buying fuel or acquiring spare parts.
And the situation is part of a harsh economic crisis on the island.