Massive power outages plague Cuba By Reuters

By Nelson Acosta and Alien Fernandez

CARDENAS, Cuba (Reuters) – Power outages totaling 14 hours or more per day were reported across much of crisis-hit Cuba on Thursday, leaving millions of residents defenseless in the summer heat and humidity.

The state-run power company said the faults forced six plants to disconnect the aging and poorly maintained grid.

The monopoly supplier promised only minor relief for the weekend, with humidity forecast at around 90 percent and temperatures up to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).

On Thursday evening, there was no power in Matanzas province, east of Havana, except for the famous tourist resort of Varadero and key institutions such as hospitals, according to local social media reports and Reuters witnesses.

Residents appeared resigned to their fate and did not want to provide last names as they sought fresh air in the dark streets of Santa Marta in the municipality of Cardenas.

“We are already adapted, the Cuban lives like this, laughing calmly, with light or without light,” said Doris, standing outside her home with two grown sons.

Power outages, disrupting daily life and the economy, have plagued the communist-ruled country since 2021, sparking rare protests. They reflect a deepening economic crisis marked by shortages of basic goods, double-digit inflation and a lack of cash to import fuel and infrastructure parts.

Ariel Rodriguez, a 52-year-old restaurant worker on the other side of the eastern Caribbean island nation of Santiago de Cuba, where protests erupted in March demanding food and lights, said by phone that the power outages they have since subsided but are getting worse. again.

“For the past two weeks, power outages have lasted an average of 10 hours a day from 7am to 1pm and at night from 7pm to 11pm,” he said.

“Yesterday they added 11pm to 3:15am,” Rodriguez added.

Residents of eastern Holguin province and central Camaguey and Cienfuegos provinces described similar conditions.

Havana has been largely spared the power outages, which come in four-hour increments or more, often several times in 24 hours.