Cuba in Coma
Cuba in Coma As Hurricane Oscar hits Cuba, the country’s power grid has completely collapsed for the fourth time in 48 hours, worsening the outdated infrastructure of this communist-ruled nation. The hurricane, with winds reaching 120 kilometers per hour, caused severe waves and heavy rainfall in eastern parts of Cuba, complicating government efforts to restore electricity to millions.
Schools have been closed until Wednesday, and only essential workers are allowed to go to work. Despite electricity having been restored to parts of Havana earlier, the repeated grid collapse has heightened concerns about long-term impacts on the economy and daily life of the people.
According to reports from the East, Cuba’s Energy and Mines Ministry confirmed that the complexities of the power grid restoration process continue, and widespread internet outages due to the inability to charge devices have compounded the problems.
According to Reuters, Cuba’s capital, with a population of about two million, was completely without power on Sunday.
Meanwhile, many Cubans lined up to receive their 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 grid for citizens who were already suffering from severe shortages of food, medicine, and fuel. Cuba’s national power grid first failed on Friday afternoon following the shutdown of the island’s largest power plant, leading to chaos. State media reported that the grid failed again on Saturday morning. In the early hours of Saturday evening, officials announced partial grid failures after reporting progress in restoring the power grid. Cuba’s Energy Ministry wrote on social media platform X that the power grid restoration process still has complexities.
Reuters journalists witnessed two small nighttime protests following the grid failure, which plunged Havana into darkness on Saturday night.
One protest took place in the suburbs of the capital in Marianao, and the other in the central Cuatro Caminos area.
According to data from 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 stated that network data shows a large part of Cuba has no access to the internet as the island grapples with its second nationwide power outage.
Even before the network outage, 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 has 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.
Although the collapse of Cuba’s power grid came as a surprise, this crisis has been years in the making.
Cuba’s power plants are outdated and in dire need of repair. Additionally, Cuba itself produces almost no fuel and is reliant on imports.
The big problem for Cuba is that Venezuela, its political ally and main supplier of fuel for decades, has reduced its fuel shipments due to an economic crisis of its own. Mexico and Russia have also reduced their exports.
This situation has left Cuba in a vulnerable position.
Cuba’s economy began to decline during the COVID-19 pandemic when international tourism plummeted and inflation rose.
During the same period, then-U.S. President Donald Trump imposed multiple sanctions on Cuba after reclassifying it as a state sponsor of terrorism.
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 cries for ‘freedom,’ posing a significant challenge for 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, 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 Cuban communist government, which uses a rationing system to provide a specific amount of food per household, began limiting bread allocation, giving it 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 possible.
Cuba is currently witnessing its largest wave of migration since the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro and the communist regime to power.
This island has lost about 10% of its population in just the past three years.
