Cubans began to return to some normality in their lives this Wednesday after a collapse of the national energy system that caused days of total blackouts, although the crisis is far from being solved.
“We had a very bad time, without power, our food spoiled; On Sunday I had to take out all the chicken to even distribute to the neighbors,” he told The Associated Press Yadis Bruzón, a 45-year-old employee and mother of twins.
Like many of the people he spoke to APBruzón knows that the worst has already happened but the crisis in the energy sector will continue.
The emergency began on Thursday night when during peak hours 50% of the country suffered a lack of electricitybut the most critical situation unexpectedly broke out on Friday morning with the total collapse of the national energy system caused by a breakdown at the Antonio Guiteras power plant.
Although the reconnection of the entire system was achieved on Tuesday afternoon, the system continues to be weak and the energy shortages that Cubans experienced are still as present as before, when there were already blackouts of up to eight hours a day in some places.
“It was not known how long” the blackout would last, said Jorge Vélez, a 48-year-old state worker. “Of course there has to be a blackout again, maybe not on the entire island like this one, but for two, three hours like they were doing. There is no oil.”
The tense situation in the generation and distribution of electricity has been going on for years on the island and was caused both by the lack of fuel to power the generation plants and by the frequent breakdowns in the old thermoelectric plants with more than 30 years of operation and little maintenance, as acknowledged by the authorities.
Both causes are directly linked to the sanctions of the United States, which intensified its policy by pressing for a change in the political model on the island, persecuting the ships that supply crude oil or derivatives and blocking financial operations to acquire spare parts.
In recent months, the authorities explained, there was also an increase in residential demand. Added to the blackout over the weekend was the passage of Cyclone Oscar, which left seven dead and the east of the country—with its infrastructure—destroyed.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel had recognized that the blackouts—although not as long as this last one—will persist because the origin of the system’s weakness persists.
On Wednesday, it was also reported that classes will not resume until next Monday and that work activities remain suspended, while a report from the state Unión Eléctrica indicated that during the peak hours of the day—normally at night—a surge is expected. demand of 2,950 megawatts and availability of 1,978 megawatts.
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