Nationwide Blackout in Cuba Raises the Risk of Protests

Much of Cuba, including the capital Havana, is still without electricity - a day after the country's main energy plant failed, knocking out power to 10 million people. The authorities partially restored power to parts of the Caribbean island last night- but another full outage was reported in the early hours of Saturday.

For many people it has been a rough night with no air conditioning or fans. Food is now beginning to rot in fridges, and some families are having to cook with firewood. Many homes are without water as the supply depends on electric pumps. Patience is wearing thin, but there are no reliable reports of protests as yet. It is an increasingly critical situation, with schools and businesses closed and fears for the continued functioning of hospitals.  The outages come during the hurricane season, and there are fears that a significant storm would damage Cuba's creaking energy distribution infrastructure.

Friday's total blackout came after the Antonio Guiteras power plant in Matanzas - the largest on the island - went offline around 11 am local time.  President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez said the situation was his "absolute priority".  "There will be no rest until power is restored," he wrote onsocial media.

The communist president has blamed the decades-long U.S. embargo for preventing much needed supplies and replacement parts from reaching Cuba.  But more significantly,  Cuba has been suffering from increased shortages of crucial fuel shipments from Venezuela.  Prime Minister Manuel Marrero addressed the public in a televised message the day before the blackout, blaming deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand for the electricity failures.  "The fuel shortage is the biggest factor," he admitted.   The head of the National Electric Union (UNE) Alfredo López Valdés also acknowledged the island had been facing a challenging energy situation, with shortages chiefly to blame.

Earlier this week, Cuban officials announced that all schools and non-essential activities, including nightclubs, were to close until Monday.  Non-essential workers were urged to stay home to safeguard electricity supply, and non-vital government services were suspended.

Extended blackouts (particularly one this widespread) are always a tense time in Cuba.  This is primarily due to the fact that keeping lights on represents a potential public order issue for the Cuban government. In July 2021, thousands of protesters spilled into the streets in demonstrations sparked by days-long blackouts in much of the country.

The Cuban government has become increasingly aware that many on the island have lost a degree of fear over speaking out about the many daily problems they face. "This is crazy," Eloy Fon, an 80-year-old pensioner living in central Havana, told the AFP news agency.  "It shows the fragility of our electricity system.  We have no reserves, there is nothing to sustain the country, we are living day to day."  47-year-old Bárbara López, a digital content creator, said she had already "barely been able to work for two days".   "It's the worst I've seen in 47 years," she said. "They've really messed up now... We have no power or mobile data."

Many are prepared to take to the streets and chant anti-government slogans, if conditions merit it.  "I feel very disappointed, frustrated and hopeless," an unnamed 39-year-old housewife told Agence France-Presse. "It's not only the lack of electricity but also of gas and water."  She said her "generation wants to continue trusting" in the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, but her "resilience has limits".  Cuba is in the throes of its worst economic crisis in 30 years, marked by sky-high inflation and shortages of food, medicine, fuel and water.

In recent weeks, provinces outside the capital have endured up to 20 hours a day without electricity.  "What we want is electricity, not the explanation they give us," complained Pablo Reve, a 61-year-old teacher who took the blackout with less annoyance than others.  "To keep going forward is what we have left," he said with a sense of resignation.

Cuba has recently been experiencing a surge in violence, a surge in fuel prices, as well as a collapse in its sugar industry, which have only contributed to the instability across the country leading up to the recent problems with the electrical infrastructure.    In March, Hundreds of people in Cuba's second-largest city, Santiago, staged a rare public protest over chronic power blackouts and food shortages.