The situation of the National Energy System continues to be critical and keeps the Cuban Government nervous after several protests registered in the country in the last hours. A radio and television intervention this Thursday by the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel did little to help the tense panorama that Cubans are experiencing due to the constant blackouts by emphasizing that stability in energy generation will come in the coming months.
As he explained, a group of “repairs and maintenance that should lead us to stability in the coming months” has been contracted, referring to investments that have been made in the sector. He said that the financing has come from the income obtained from tourism in recent months and what has been collected “in the ill-gotten and run stores in freely convertible currency.”
Díaz-Canel admitted again that the Government does not have the electrical capacity “for what the life of our population is demanding,” although he did not fail to give some breath of hope in his speech. “Our country, with a friendly country, has signed an agreement, a negotiation through which three new blocks will be established and that is also thinking about the growth that the country will have in the future.”
The financing has come from the income obtained by tourism in recent months and what has been collected “in the poorly brought and carried stores in freely convertible currency”
According to the government official, the power cuts have to do with trying to displace consumers from peak hours “to others where there are no peaks and that can be covered by the generation” of the country. However, he clarified that this method has not been effective “due to the conditions” in which thermoelectric plants find themselves today.
“All this consumption load balance has been done at the social level and above all by closing a group of activities in the economy, but it is not possible to mitigate those peaks any further.”
He also referred to the fact that the latest repairs that have been made to the thermoelectric plants have not been of much use, and mentioned, for example, a capital that was made to Lidio Ramón Pérez, from Felton. “These repairs are extremely expensive for the country,” he added.
At the end of last month, Díaz-Canel intervened through a televised video to admit the seriousness of the electrical situation and warn that “it is still complex in the coming days.” He then added that things should get better at the end of May to the stunned audience that can’t keep up with the dates.
“Our country, with a friendly country, has signed an agreement, a negotiation through which three new blocks will be established”
Later, in a Round Table it was recognized that the plants of the Island are generating less than 40% of their installed power and reserves are at zero. Since then, the scheduled blackouts exceed the limits of the trained patience of Cubans, with outages that exceed 12 or 14 hours.
The power outages have been accompanied by protests at various points throughout the island, such as the one that occurred on Tuesday night when residents of the central campus of the Ignacio Agramonte University, in Camagüey, exploded after more than 10 hours without light.
The university students’ protest, which led the center’s management to intervene and even led to the restoration of the service shortly after, also happened because the cuts are affecting the water supply and the residents cannot even bathe.
This Wednesday night, a cacerolada through the streets of Manzanillo, in the province of Granma, and the effect of the protest was also the restoration of the fluid. In addition, in other cities graffiti has appeared on walls with phrases such as “Díaz-Canel singao, “down with the Castros”, “they are killing the people” and “Homeland and life”.
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