United Nations development funds go directly to the hotels, not to the population of the Island, mired in a serious crisis.
MIAMI, United States. – In a scenario of serious and sustained energy crisis, with prolonged blackouts and at least five national disconnections of the electrical system in the last year, the Cuban Government and international organizations technical and financial resources are concentrated in 16 hotels in Varadero and Jardines del Rey to optimize your electricity consumption and reduce your environmental footprint.
While a good part of the population spends hours in the dark, these tourist centers receive cutting-edge technology financed by international cooperation and accompanied by Cuban institutions.
According to the newspaper Invaderthe so-called International Sustainable Tourism Project installs “automated systems for measuring electrical consumption” in 16 facilities of the Ministry of Tourism located in Varadero (Matanzas) and Jardines del Rey (Ciego de Ávila). The hotels incorporate sensors, signal converters and a computer system that allows real-time monitoring of electricity consumption, also supported by four automatic weather stations located at extreme points of both destinations, with the aim of building detailed energy consumption models.
Alfredo Curbelo Alonso, researcher at the Center for Information Management and Energy Development (Cubaenergía) and part of the national coordination of the project, explained to Invader that the deployment of this equipment is part of the efforts to improve the energy performance of hotels and allow them to certify the Cuban standard “Energy Management System-Requirements with Guidance for its Use.”
Behind this commitment is a long-term program, designed from Havana but financed and validated by international organizations. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA) describe the project “Integration of biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation in the development of sustainable tourism in Cuba” as a six-year initiative (2023–2029) that seeks to incorporate the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, as well as the mitigation of climate change, in marine-vulnerable coastal areas through innovative management models and new financial mechanisms.
The pilot actions are concentrated in Cayo Coco, Cayo Guillermo and Varaderoall key tourist enclaves, with emphasis on low-emission technologies in hotel facilities.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) resume The objective of the initiative is to promote “tourism that promotes the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and the mitigation of climate change in coastal areas.” The project is implemented by the Institute of Ecology and Systematics of the Environment Agency, with the support of the UNDP and financing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
The CITMA recognizes that the so-called “smokeless industry” constitutes “an important source of income for the country,” but warns that excessive growth could cause “a gradual impact on the environment,” which is why it insists on the need to incorporate sustainability criteria into tourism development.
The official portal Excellencies Cuba underlines that the project seeks to “promote the energy transition by incorporating clean sources and investing in efficiency,” in order to save electricity and reduce polluting emissions, and at the same time consolidate the image of Cuba as a sustainable tourist destination.
In other words, tourism is once again placed at the center of the official narrative on energy modernization and climate change, even as the electrical grid that sustains the country’s daily life is on the brink of collapse.
The contrast is obvious: these technological advances in hotel facilities occur while the population suffers “prolonged blackouts” that in many locations exceed 20 hours a day, and while in the last year the Island has experienced five national disconnections that have left it completely in the dark.
Added to this is the impact of Hurricane Melissa on part of the infrastructure of eastern Cuba, in a recovery process that could take years, if not decades. However, sun and beach hotels continue to be among the first to receive energy, either due to priority in electrical dispatch or due to access to their own generation sources, which keeps these areas illuminated and air-conditioned while large residential areas remain without service.
The Electrical Union has recognized that in Havana unscheduled outages often exceed nine hours a day, while in several provinces homes have only two to four hours of electricity each day. Added to this are successive failures of aging thermoelectric plants that have caused repeated national blackouts in less than a year, in the midst of the worst economic crisis in decades.
In this context, the decision to channel GEF and UNDP funds, as well as technical capacities of Cuban institutions, towards improving the energy performance of hotels in Varadero and Jardines del Rey is not neutral. While the Ministry of Tourism becomes “the biggest beneficiary of the project”ahead of other strategic sectors, the population depends on an obsolete and underfinanced network that shuts down again and again.
The very design of the program, focused on coastal tourist centers, leaves out neighborhoods, hospitals and communities that are experiencing the energy emergency without access to similar monitoring, savings and efficiency technologies.
Proponents of the project argue that each kilowatt saved in hotels can free up capacity for other sectors and that reducing emissions and protecting coastal ecosystems are urgent objectives. That logic appears in UNDP documentswhich are committed to changing the operating dynamics of tourism and improving its long-term sustainability. However, the question of who benefits first, in a country where many families cook with firewood or charcoal when the power is out, remains unanswered in official texts.
