ANTONIO LEVI / AFP
People wait for transportation at a bus station in Matanzas, Cuba, October 18, 2024, during a nationwide blackout caused by a power grid failure.
INTERNATIONAL – A nationwide power outage. Cuba was plunged into darkness this Friday, October 18, due to a breakdown in the island’s entire electrical system, leaving around 10 million people without electricity. This outage is due to the unplanned shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras power plant, the country’s main thermal power plant, in a context of“energy emergency”, said the Ministry of Energy and Mines.
“The system is without electricity throughout the country”declared on state television Lázaro Guerra, general director of electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mines. Lázaro Guerra clarified that when the power plant stopped “the system has collapsed” and that the government was mobilized to restore it as quickly as possible.
In the process, President Miguel Díaz-Canel declared on“there will be no rest until he recovers” and that the government has made the resolution of this “very sensitive energy problem”the “absolute priority”.
Miguel Díaz-Canel had already warned this Thursday that Cuba was in a situation of“energy emergency” due to difficulties in purchasing the fuel necessary to power its power stations, following the strengthening of the embargo that Washington has imposed on the island since 1962, as well as a new series of sanctions imposed by former President Donald Trump.
The day before, the electricity deficit reached almost 50%
To deal with this situation, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero announced the suspension of all non-essential state activities, while the electricity deficit reached almost 50% on Thursday. Schools at all levels, including universities, were closed until Sunday.
On the island, electricity is produced from eight dilapidated thermal power plants, sometimes broken down or under maintenance, as well as seven floating power plants, which the government rents to Russian companies, and generators. Most of this infrastructure requires fuel to operate.
The island is currently experiencing its worst crisis in three decades, with shortages of food and medicine and chronic power cuts. In recent weeks, the population of several provinces has experienced up to twenty hours without electricity in a day.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.fr
