Islandwide blackout hits Cuba as island struggles with deepening energy crisis

Officials in Cuba reported an islandwide blackout Monday in the country of some 11 million people as its energy and economic crises deepen and its power grid continues to crumble The Ministry of Energy and Mines on X noted a complete disconnection of the countrys electrical system and said it was investigating noting there were no failures in the units that were operating when the grid collapsed It was the third major blackout in Cuba over the past four monthsTomas David Velazquez Felipe a 61yearold resident of Havana said the relentless outages make him think that Cubans who can should just pack up and leave the island What little we have to eat spoils he said Our people are too old to keep sufferingBy Monday evening stateowned media reported that crews had restored power to 2 per cent of Havanas residents representing some 18000 customers as well as a handful of hospitals across the islandOfficials said they would prioritise the communications sector next all while warning that the small circuits restored so far could fail againCubas ageing grid has drastically eroded in recent years leading to an increase in daily outages and islandwide blackouts But the government also has blamed its woes on a US energy blockade after US President Donald Trump in January warned of tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba The Trump administration is demanding that Cuba release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalisation in return for a lifting of sanctions Trump has also raised the possibility of a friendly takeover of CubaOn Monday he said he believes hell have the honour of taking Cuba I mean whether I free it take it I think I could do anything I want with it Trump said about Cuba calling it a very weakened nation The US Embassy in Cuba wrote on X on Monday that there is no information on when power would be restoredCubas national electrical grid is increasingly unstable and prolonged scheduled and unscheduled power outages are a daily occurrence across the country it wrote Take precautions by conserving fuel water food and mobile phone charge and be prepared for significant disruptionGrinding blackoutsWilliam LeoGrande a professor at American University who has tracked Cuba for years said the countrys energy grid hasnt been maintained properly and its infrastructure is way past its normal useful life The technicians working on the grid are magicians to keep it running at all given the shape that its in LeoGrande saidLeoGrande said that if the island drastically reduces consumption and expands renewables it can struggle along for a while without oil shipments But it would be constant misery for the general population and eventually the economy could collapse just completely and then you would have social chaos and probably mass migration he saidTo ramp up solar power even faster than Cuba did last year LeoGrande said other countries principally China would have to be willing to double or more their provision of such equipment Cuban President Miguel DiazCanel on Friday said the island had not received oil shipments in three months and was operating on solar power natural gas and thermoelectric plants and that the government has had to postpone surgeries for tens of thousands of peopleYaimisel Sanchez Pena 48 said she was upset that the food she buys with money that her son in the US sends keeps spoiling adding that the outages also affect her 72yearold mother Every day she suffers Mercedes Velazquez a 71yearold Cuban resident lamented yet another blackout Were here waiting to see what happens she said adding that she recently gave away part of a soup she made while it was still fresh so as not to throw it out Everything goes badA perfect storm of collapseA massive outage over a week ago affected the islands west leaving millions without power Another major blackout affected western Cuba in early December Critical oil shipments from Venezuela were halted after the US attacked the South American country in early January and arrested its thenpresident Nicolas MaduroWhile Cuba produces 40 per cent of its petroleum and has been generating its own power it hasnt been sufficient to meet demand as its electric grid continues to crumble And on top of all that the Cuban government doesnt have the hard currency to import spare parts or upgrade the plant or grid itself Its just a perfect storm of collapse LeoGrande saidHe noted that the thermoelectric plants also have been using heavy oil whose sulfur content is corroding the equipmentOn Friday DiazCanel confirmed that Cuba was holding talks with the US government as the problems continue to deepen The deputy prime minister of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Oscar PerezOliva Fraga told reporters Monday that Cuba is open to trading with US companies while noting the embargos limitationsHe said hes also implementing new measures aimed at boosting the islands economy Among those is the possibility of allowing Cubans residing abroad to be partners or owners of private companies in the country and to be involved in largescale projects including those related to infrastructure according to state mediaHe said those Cubans will be allowed to partner with Cuban private companies and establish ties with both stateowned and private Cuban entities PerezOliva added that the government also will grant land under usufruct for the development of certain projects He said Cubans residing abroad also will be able to open foreign currency bank accounts in Cuban banks which will facilitate transactionsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever