Blackouts drive new protests in Cuba, but officials say the power cuts will continue

Even though hundreds of people were sent to prison for demonstrating against the government last year, Cubans continue taking to the streets, this time moved by the hours-long electricity blackouts that the government said won’t stop anytime soon because of the poor state of the country’s electrical grid.

Residents of Jagüey Grande, in Matanzas and the towns of Sagua la Grande and Caibarién, in the Villa Clara province, staged public demonstrations in the middle of blackouts on Thursday night, according to several videos published on social media. They banged pots and pans and chanted slogans like “Long Live a Free Cuba” and “Patria y Vida.” But many had one request: “Bring the f---ing electricity back.”

At least in one town, the demonstrations worked: Electrical service was restored just minutes after the protest started, said Vilma Albuerne, a resident of Caibarién who live-streamed video of the protesters. She said residents quickly dispersed in the darkness after members of the government’s special forces were sent to quell the protest. Her original video was deleted from her Facebook account on Friday afternoon.

The government is aware the situation is volatile, especially because Cubans face a whole range of everyday difficulties in getting food, medicine and essential goods. The high temperatures and a dengue fever epidemic make the lengthy blackouts particularly unbearable. Last week there was a similar protest during a blackout in Los Palacios, a town in the western provide of Pinar del Río.

“As long as the blackouts continue and we continue to feel the inconvenience, the dissatisfaction will continue, and it will be difficult to change the states of opinion,” the country’s leader, Miguel Díaz-Canel, said in June.

But on Monday, the minister of energy and mining, Liván Arronte Cruz, plainly said the electrical cuts would continue because the grid is currently operating at 38% of capacity.

The system is working with no reserves, and during peak hours the demand exceeds the generation capacity, he said on live television.

A fire at a power station in the eastern province of Holguín early this month killed any hopes of avoiding blackouts in the area this summer. Officials said the accidental fire will put one of the plant’s generating units out of commission for more than a year.

Domestic oil production covers only part of the island’s demand for electricity, and the government has been relying on oil sent by Venezuela, a close political ally, to cover the rest.

Cuba received about 66,400 barrels per day of crude oil, fuel oil and gasoline from Venezuela in June, according to data from Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, reviewed by Reuters. But Venezuela’s own production problems have forced Cuban authorities to buy oil on the international market to cover the deficit. On Monday, the same day the energy minister was warning that power blackouts would not end, a Russian ship unloaded 700,000 barrels of fuel oil at a terminal in the port of Matanzas.

While the shipment might ease some of the country’s most immediate needs, the Energy minister and other officials painted a dire picture of the dilapidated state of the electrical grid.

The country’s power stations are 37 years old on average, significantly over the expected 25 years of service that is the current standard. Scheduled maintenance has been delayed for 16 stations. A backup system powered by diesel is operating at most at 44% capacity “because of the lack of resources,” the minister said.

The backup system was part of Fidel Castro’s “energy revolution” during the mid-2000s. But the price of diesel fuel has skyrocketed, averaging $5.52 a gallon in the U.S. this week. And maintenance of the stations has lagged since 2017 because of a lack of funding, resulting in 339 units currently out of service because they require new parts, said Arles Luna Leiva, an official with Cuba’s Electric Union, the state electricity company.

Electric transmission lines “are in a critical state” due to lack of maintenance and resources, said the company’s director, Jorge Armando Cepero Hernández.

The officials said because of the lack of money there are no immediate solutions.

The Russian government gave Cuba a $1.3 billion loan in 2015 to build four 200-megawatt units in two power stations, but the Cuban government has not explained what happened to the funds.

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Meanwhile, Cubans appear to have lost patience with official explanations.

“Enough is enough. Everybody to the streets,” said a woman recording a protest in Jagüey Grande. “Turn on the electricity now. It’s abusive, and that’s why they shut down the internet so the world cannot see what we are going through.”