politics
Cuba remains almost entirely without electricity after its sixth blackout in a year and a half
Cuba continues to be almost entirely without electricity after the sixth national blackout in a year and a half, with a slow recovery of the electrical system and an energy crisis that was already hitting with outages of up to 15 hours daily before the collapse.
TL;DR
- Cuba suffered its sixth national blackout in under 1.5 years.
- Nearly the entire island remained without electricity almost 20 hours after the outage.
- Only 31% of customers in Havana had power restored.
- The national electric system (SEN) was reconnected from Pinar del Río to Holguín, but generation units are not fully operational.
- Only three out of 16 thermoelectric generation units are producing electricity.
- The energy situation was already critical, with daily outages of up to 15 hours in Havana and two days in provinces.
- The crisis is attributed to frequent breakdowns in obsolete thermoelectric units and a lack of fuel.
- Cuba lacks the foreign currency to import necessary fuel, and US oil sanctions have halted external shipments.
- The economic situation has worsened, with a 15% contraction since 2020, and social discontent is rising.
- Small protests have occurred, with some turning violent and resulting in arrests.
- Independent experts estimate $8-10 billion is needed to fully repair the SEN.
- The Cuban government blames Washington's sanctions for the 'energy strangulation'.