By Dave Sherwood and Marianna Parraga
HAVANA (Reuters) -Cuba restored a trickle of energy to its grid by mid-evening on Friday, officers mentioned, hours after the island plunged into a national blackout following the collapse of certainly one of its main energy crops.
The overwhelming majority of the nation’s 10 million residents have been nonetheless in the dead of night on Friday evening, however scattered pockets of the capital Havana, together with a few of the metropolis’s main hospitals, noticed lights flicker again on shortly after darkish.
Grid operator UNE mentioned it hoped to restart a minimum of 5 of its oil-fired era crops in a single day, offering sufficient electrical energy, it mentioned, to start returning energy to broader areas of the nation.
The Communist-run authorities closed faculties and non-essential trade early on Friday and despatched most state employees dwelling in a last-ditch effort to maintain the lights on after weeks of extreme energy shortages. Leisure and cultural actions, together with evening golf equipment, have been additionally ordered closed.
However shortly earlier than noon, the Antonio Guiteras energy plant, the nation’s largest and most effective, went offline, prompting a complete grid failure and instantly leaving the whole island with out energy.
Officers mentioned late on Friday they have been working to repair the issue that had led the oil-fired plant to fail. They didn’t specify the reason for its collapse.
The blackout marks a brand new low level on an island the place life has turn out to be more and more insufferable, with residents affected by shortages of meals, gasoline, water and medication.
Nearly all commerce in Havana floor to a halt on Friday. Many residents sat sweating on doorsteps. Vacationers hunkered down in frustration. By dusk, the town was nearly utterly enveloped in darkness.
“We went to a restaurant and they had no food because there was no power, now we are also without internet,” said Brazilian tourist Carlos Roberto Julio, who had recently arrived in Havana. “In two days, we have already had several problems.”
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero this week blamed worsening blackouts throughout the previous a number of weeks on an ideal storm well-known to most Cubans – deteriorating infrastructure, gasoline shortages and rising demand.
“The fuel shortage is the biggest factor,” Marrero mentioned in a televised message to the nation.
Sturdy winds that started with Hurricane Milton final week have crippled the island’s capability to ship scarce gasoline from boats offshore to its energy crops, officers mentioned.
REDUCED FUEL
Cuba’s authorities additionally blames the U.S. commerce embargo, in addition to sanctions beneath then-President Donald Trump, for difficulties in buying gasoline and spare elements to function its oil-fired crops.
“The complex scenario is caused primarily by the intensification of the economic war and financial and energy persecution of the United States,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel mentioned on X on Thursday.
A White Home Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson mentioned, “The United States is not to blame for today’s blackout on the island, or the overall energy situation in Cuba.”
A State Division official mentioned late on Friday that Washington was intently monitoring the potential humanitarian influence of the blackout however that the Cuban authorities had not requested help.
For a lot of Cubans, far faraway from politics and accustomed to common energy outages, the nationwide blackout was nothing greater than a traditional Friday evening.
Carlos Manuel Pedre mentioned he had defaulted to easy pleasures to cross the time.
“In the times we’re living in, with everything happening in our country, the most logical entertainment is dominoes,” he mentioned as he performed the favored recreation with pals. “We’re in total crisis.”
Whereas demand for electrical energy has grown in recent times alongside Cuba’s fledgling non-public sector, gasoline provide has fallen sharply.
Cuba’s largest oil provider, Venezuela, has lowered shipments to the island to a median of 32,600 barrels per day within the first 9 months of the 12 months, barely half the 60,000 bpd despatched in the identical interval of 2023, in response to vessel-monitoring information and inside transport paperwork from Venezuela’s state firm PDVSA.
PDVSA, whose refining infrastructure can also be ailing, has this 12 months tried to keep away from a brand new wave of gasoline shortage at dwelling, leaving smaller volumes obtainable for export to allied international locations like Cuba.
Russia and Mexico, which prior to now have despatched gasoline to Cuba, have additionally significantly lowered shipments.
The shortfalls have left Cuba to fend for itself on the far costlier spot market at a time when its authorities is near-bankrupt.
