Half of Havana regained electricity service this Monday (21), on the fourth day of the national blackout in Cuba and after the first signs of impatience in the population.
The restoration of electricity to 50% of the capital, with two million inhabitants, was announced by the Havana energy company, while Tropical Storm Oscar It crosses the east of the country, without causing major damage, according to first reports.
“At the moment there are 172 circuits in service, which represents 317 MW (megawatts), around 50% of customers are already in service,” said the Havana electricity company in a report published by the state news portal Cubadebate.
Cuba, declared by the government to be in an “energy emergency”, suffered the total shutdown of its electrical system last Friday, following the collapse of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the most important in the country.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, promised at a conference on Sunday at noon to restore service by Monday night for the vast majority of the island’s population.
Over the weekend, authorities made great efforts to suspend service, without success.
The president, Miguel Diaz-Canelacknowledged that the situation of the electrical system remains “complex”. The blackout sparked riots and protests in some neighborhoods of the capital over the weekend.
Storm Oscar in the east
Those who attempt to “cause disturbances in public order” and who participate in acts of vandalism “will be prosecuted according to the rigor contemplated by revolutionary laws,” said the president, dressed in a green military uniform, during a meeting of the National Defense Council, broadcast on state television.
The message was given amid strong tension also due to the arrival of Oscar on the east coast of the island, which reached category one, only to be downgraded to a tropical storm a few hours later.
Oscar caused damage to roofs and walls of houses, knocking down poles and trees in the city of Baracoa, on the far east of the island, according to official television, which did not show images.
“Strong storms will continue to arrive on the northern coast of the provinces of Guantánamo, Holguín and Las Tunas”, warned this Monday morning the Forecast Center of the Cuban Meteorological Institute, in a report published by the Cubadebate.
He added that moderate to severe coastal flooding will continue in low-lying areas on that coast, including the Baracoa pier.
In four provinces in the east of the country, with 10 million inhabitants, authorities announced measures to protect the population, including evacuations in areas at risk of flooding.
“Turn on the light”
There were protests over the blackout in some neighborhoods of the capital, where many were also left without water or gas as a result of the power cut.
Dozens of people, including women with children in their arms, came out in the dark with pans to demonstrate in the populated neighborhood of Santos Suárez. “Turn on the lights”, they shouted.
Protest over lack of energy in Havana.
Photo: YAMIL LAGE / AFP
“On my block, people on the street are making noise, with pots and pans and shouting,” he told AFP a resident of Santos Suárez, who requested anonymity.
Another group closed a street in central Havana with trash barricades.
On social media, users published videos attributed to a protest in Manicaragua, a town in the province of Villa Clara (center), without the AFP able to verify its authenticity.
During the night, it was possible to observe a strong police presence on the streets of the capital, while many people complained about the cut in data service on their cell phones.
Authorities have suspended classes and essential work activities until Wednesday, only hospitals and services vital to the population will remain in operation.
On the island, electricity is generated through eight worn-out and fuel-dependent thermoelectric plants, which in some cases have broken down or are undergoing maintenance, in addition to several floating plants – which the government leases to Turkish companies – and generator sets.
Com food shortagemedicines, skyrocketing inflation and chronic blackouts that limit the development of productive activities, Cuba is facing its worst economic crisis in three decades.
