Cuba’s national grid experienced a complete shutdown on Friday when a critical power plant, the CTE Antonio Guiteras station with a 330-megawatt capacity, experienced an unanticipated failure. The Ministry of Energy and Mines revealed in an X post that employees were working diligently to restore power.
The government of Cuba disclosed prior to this incident that they would be suspending vital industries and terminating official functions in a bid to conserve energy for homes. Power shortages are not unusual in Cuba, however, the regularity and duration of these blackouts have escalated due to the deterioration of old power generators and the government’s fiscal constraints preventing the import of sufficient fuel.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel has declared this electricity outage as an “absolute priority”, pledging on X to persist in their efforts until normal service is resumed.
Presently, Cuba is navigating its most severe economic drought since the Soviet Union’s downfall. A scarcity of food and fuel has led to uncommon public demonstrations, and it’s estimated that the island has experienced a population decline of 10% since 2021. Cuban leadership frequently attribute their economic woes to US financial sanctions.
In a Thursday night broadcast to the nation, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero implicated a blend of crumbling infrastructure, fuel paucity, and mounting demand as the reasons behind the debilitating power outages. He thus reported the government’s choice to “halt economic activities” and “give precedence to the domestic sector”.
Even before the nation-wide blackout, reports surfaced of factories and businesses shutting their doors. Schools were also closed on Friday, although the government attributed this to weather conditions instead of the energy predicament.