A good four days after the island-wide power outage in Cuba, according to government figures, more than 70 percent of the connections have electricity again. The areas where supplies had not yet been restored on Tuesday continued to include those in the eastern province of Guantanamo, where Hurricane Oscar caused severe flooding and damage on Sunday.
The number of confirmed hurricane deaths in the communist-ruled Caribbean country has now risen to seven, including a five-year-old child. According to official information, party and state representatives are only gradually reaching the worst affected areas of the island, which has been suffering for years from one of its worst economic crises since the 1959 revolution around Fidel Castro.
On Friday, the collapse of the completely dilapidated power grid caused the total blackout. The system collapsed several times when trying to restart it. Because of the outdated network, Cuba has been suffering from frequent power outages for years, sometimes lasting more than twelve hours a day in some places.
The authoritarian government blames the embargo, which has been in force for more than 60 years, and other US sanctions for the fact that Cuba cannot buy enough fuel and spare parts. The Cuban economist Pedro Monreal criticized on Platform
Without electricity, many Cuban households do not have tap water because they use electric pumps. Additionally, what little food they have stored in the refrigerator or freezer goes bad.
Dissatisfaction with the difficult living conditions has erupted in several small protests in various places over the past few days. President Miguel Díaz-Canel spoke of drunks behaving indecently. We will not allow order to be disturbed.
In recent years, long power outages have repeatedly been the cause of demonstrations, with some participants demanding freedom or a change in the system. Hundreds of people are imprisoned in Cuba for participating in peaceful protests.
2024-10-23 02:04:00