Cuba in a Coma
Cuba in a Coma: As Hurricane Oscar reached Cuba, the country’s power grid collapsed completely for the fourth time in the past 48 hours, worsening the condition of the aging infrastructure under communist rule. The hurricane, with winds reaching 120 kilometers per hour, caused severe waves and heavy rainfall in eastern parts of Cuba, complicating the government’s efforts to restore electricity to millions.
Schools were closed until Wednesday, and only essential workers were allowed to go to work. Although power had previously been restored to parts of Havana, the repeated collapse of the grid heightened concerns about the long-term impacts on the economy and daily life.
According to reports from the East, Cuba’s energy and mining sectors confirmed that the complexities of the power grid restoration process continue, and widespread internet outages due to the inability to charge devices have added to the problems.
According to Reuters, Cuba’s capital, home to about two million people, was completely without power on Sunday.
Meanwhile, many Cubans lined up to receive rationed supplies and checked the situation outside their homes.
The third grid failure late on Saturday highlighted the government’s major failure to quickly restore the network for citizens already suffering from severe shortages of food, medicine, and fuel. Cuba’s national power grid first failed at noon on Friday following the shutdown of the island’s largest power plant, causing chaos. State media reported that the grid failed again on Saturday morning. In the early hours of Saturday evening, officials announced progress in restoring the power grid before reporting a partial grid failure. Cuba’s Ministry of Energy wrote on the social network X that the power grid restoration process still has complexities.
Reuters journalists witnessed two small night protests following the grid failure, which plunged Havana into darkness late Saturday.
One of the protests took place in the suburbs of the capital in Marianao and another in the central area of Cuatro Caminos.
According to data from the internet monitoring group NetBlocks, internet traffic in Cuba has significantly decreased as the widespread power outage has left most island residents unable to charge their phones and connect to the internet.
NetBlocks said network data shows that a large part of Cuba does not have internet access as the island grapples with a second nationwide power outage.
Even before the network failure, the severe power shortage on Friday forced Cuba’s communist government to send non-essential government workers home and close schools to save fuel.
The government attributed the increasing blackouts in recent weeks, which lasted 10 to 20 hours a day in many areas, to weak infrastructure, fuel shortages, and increased demand.
This widespread outage has left 10 million people on this Caribbean island without power, and there is no clear information on when electricity will be restored. Cuba’s economy, already in a critical state, has nearly come to a complete standstill.
Non-essential public services have been suspended, schools are closed, and even traffic lights in the capital are not working.
The collapse of Cuba’s power grid, although surprising, was a crisis that had been building for years.
Cuba’s power plants are outdated and in dire need of repair. Additionally, Cuba produces almost no fuel itself and is dependent on imports.
The major problem for Cuba is that Venezuela, its political ally and main fuel supplier for decades, has reduced fuel shipments amid its own economic crisis. Mexico and Russia have also reduced their exports.
This situation has left Cuba in a vulnerable position.
Cuba’s economy initially began to decline during the COVID-19 pandemic when international tourism collapsed and inflation rose.
During the same period, then-U.S. President Donald Trump reclassified Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism and imposed numerous sanctions on the country.
In July 2021, power outages and rising food prices led to a rare wave of public protests in Cuba. Thousands took to the streets with slogans like ‘We are hungry’ and ‘Freedom,’ posing a significant challenge to the government. During these protests, one person was killed and dozens were injured.
Hundreds were also arrested, and according to human rights groups, 600 people remain in prison.
Cuban officials accused the United States of inciting public protests and, in response to the economic turmoil, allowed the formation of small and medium-sized private businesses, which is a significant change for this communist country.
In March of this year, hundreds of protesters again took to the streets of Santiago de Cuba, the country’s second-largest city, due to power and food shortages. The communist government of Cuba, which uses a rationing system to provide a specific amount of food per household, began to limit the allocation of bread, making it available only to children and pregnant women.
Some analysts say the situation is worse than the economic crisis that occurred in Cuba after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Amid growing despair, an unprecedented number of Cubans are trying to migrate to the United States by any means.
Cuba is currently witnessing its largest wave of migration since the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro and the communist regime to power.
In just the past three years, this island has lost about 10% of its population.