Cuba’s national grid collapsed four times in as many days last week, after the island’s largest power plant, Antonio Guiteras, failed. Millions of Cubans are still without power, with food rotting in powerless fridges and many lacking access to clean water.
The Communist government closed schools on October 18 and ordered non-essential public sector activities to stop as work began on restoring the grid. But this was hindered by the arrival of Hurricane Oscar on Sunday night, which unleashed heavy rain and strong winds across eastern Cuba.
Antonio Guiteras is now back online, and Cuban energy officials say electricity has been restored in most of the capital city, Havana, and some outlying areas. But they have warned against too much optimism.
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The problem is that the Cuban government is running out of money as it grapples with the island’s worst economic crisis in 30 years, so power cuts of up to 20 hours a day are now common. Indeed, Lazaro Guerra, Cuba’s top electricity official, has said that Cubans “should not expect that when the system comes back online the blackouts will end”.
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