Since Monday, more than 70 percent of Cuba’s territory has been without electricity, with blackouts lasting over 90 hours. The situation has sparked widespread protests as residents demand restoration of power.
In the western province of Matanzas, a blackout exceeding 90 hours was recorded on Thursday evening. The primary cause is a series of breakdowns at the country’s main power plant, the Antonio Guiteras plant in Matanzas. Its director, Roman Perez Castaneda, stated that the facility requires a complete overhaul that would shut it down for at least six months.
Independent media outlets Radio Marti and Ciber Cuba report unprecedented power cuts also in parts of the Havana metropolitan area, where outages have surpassed 75 hours. According to estimates by Cuban independent media, approximately 70 percent of the national territory has been without electricity since Monday. Since Saturday, several dozen large demonstrations have taken place across the island, with protesters demanding the restoration of electricity supply.
Roots of the crisis: Aging infrastructure and fuel shortages
The chronic power shortages that have plagued Cuba for years have worsened with the country’s growing deficit of crude oil. The situation was exacerbated by the U.S. attack on Venezuela and the capture of its leader Nicolas Maduro on January 3. The new Venezuelan authorities, under U.S. pressure, halted shipments of fuel to the energy-stricken island.
The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Cuba’s president and his wife, several other regime officials, and a number of Cuban state institutions. This is another step in Washington’s escalating pressure on the communist government in Havana, following the cutoff of oil deliveries – which deepened the ongoing economic crisis – and the tightening of financial sanctions that have driven foreign companies off the island.
Political overtones: Washington’s stance and local unrest
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Cuba as “the world capital of radical left-wing terrorism,” adding that Washington “will not tolerate radical Marxist regimes in our hemisphere.” President Donald Trump announced in May that Americans would “take care of Cuba” once they finish with Iran. He assessed that Cuba has “in a certain sense collapsed.”
As blackouts continue to disrupt daily life, the protests show no sign of abating. The Cuban authorities have not yet issued a timeline for restoring full power, and the general overhaul of the Antonio Guiteras plant remains a distant prospect. The combination of internal infrastructure decay and external political pressure leaves the island facing one of its worst energy crises in recent history.
Źródło: Polsat News, Fot. Polsat News
