Havana Cuba. — A few days ago I heard, from the mouth of a friend, the most surprising and unexpected exclamation imaginable. It was around ten-odd in the morning; that is, a stage of the day that has absolutely nothing to do with the so-called “rush hour” (which justifies —or, at least, explains in part— the irritating blackouts).
But in this terrestrial branch of Hell in which the communists have converted what they used to call —we used to call— “Pearl of the Antilles”, the lack of electricity no longer depends (at least, not necessarily) on the increase in demand that is occurs when citizens, en masse, turn on the lights in their houses.
Well, my friend, when she observed at about ten-odd in the morning that lamps and electrical appliances were simultaneously turned off in her home, she exclaimed: “It’s good that the blackout has already started!”
Before explaining the reasons for such a surprising comment, it is appropriate to delve into the subject of crippling blackouts. As I have already said, in current times they are not inextricably related to the concept of “electric spike”. Any time of day is suitable for the current to be absent from household cables.
Marxist-Leninist theorists often boast of the great advantages that centralized planning has over what they call “the anarchy of production” inherent in the free enterprise system. All the more reason for us to be amazed at the tremendous omission they have incurred by not preventing this systemic lack of electricity!
The bureaucrats who used to belong to the Central Planning Board (JUCEPLAN) and now to the Ministry of Economy —that when it comes to changing names there is no one to put a foot in front of these communists— have revealed themselves to be powerless. In the decades that they have had to order the entire issue of electricity production, that bunch of incompetents (and the big bosses who command them) have not been able to order this branch of the production process.
Faced with the inevitability that the cuts in the vital fluid have acquired, the Castro regime has resorted to a hackneyed and boring weapon: its means of propaganda. In each newscast —and there are several every day—, a segment that today is unavoidable is that of information about the foreseeable blackouts. All this wrapped in a blablabla of percentages, kilowatt-hours, maintenance and breakage, which wants to be technical.
The one chosen for those bustles has been Bernardo Espinosa, a colorless announcer, but in his rants he projects a certain image of objectivity and mastery of the subject. What interest can ordinary Cubans have in this information of an essentially technical nature? Is it really so important for our compatriots to know how much the foreseeable deficit amounts to in the generation of a given day?
In reality, the image that is intended to be projected with this segment included in each of the numerous newscasts, with a few hours of difference between each one and the next, is one: the tremendous concern that overwhelms the mayimbes; the immense interest that they (who, as everyone knows, do not suffer blackouts in their own person or in that of their relatives) lend to the subject.
Something similar can be said of the recent defenestration (“thunder” in Cuban colloquial language) of the Minister of Energy and Mines, Liván Arronte Cruz. At this point I believe that Ernesto Pérez Chang is absolutely right in the world, in an article published in this same digital newspaper Last Tuesday.
The colleague says: “Impeachment is the formula that the Cuban communists have used to pretend that they are doing something. (…) One could even say that it is the only one”. And later: “Dismissals that only seek to put a human name on a disability that belongs to no one but the system itself.” And he concludes: “Here in this poorly written work called ‘Cuban socialism’ no one is innocent.”
But back to my friend’s surprising exclamation! How is it possible that she, being a normal person, was happy about the start of a blackout! This is due to another of the tricks devised by the Castroists: a change in television programming that aims to turn into something normal what is an aberration derived from the shortcomings generated by the same unviable system.
It is the case that, in the midst of today’s bleak national scene, soap operas represent a long-awaited oasis of normality and color. It must be said that the two that alternate in current times —one native and the other Brazilian— are of good quality.
The usual schedule of these soap operas is the prime of the night. It is not uncommon for viewers wanting to see them to experience a blackout. Those who suffer from this frustration can see their long-awaited novel starting at half past eleven the next morning. But those power outages are so many and so frequent that it’s not surprising that they can’t see it that time either.
For them, the provident socialist state has also changed the programming for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays after the Noon Newscast. Each of those days, both soap operas are broadcast again. And that explains my friend’s joy: the mid-morning blackout gave her reasonable hope of seeing the service restored before two in the afternoon. This, in turn, would allow you to view the coveted program.
This time, the story had a happy ending. But it is worth pointing out that, in this Greater Antilles, the “deconflautacion” has reached such an extreme, that it is not uncommon for there to be viewers who are prevented by the blackout from seeing their long-awaited soap opera for the third time. This is how things are today in our beautiful Cubita!
OPINION ARTICLE
The opinions expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the issuer and do not necessarily represent the opinion of CubaNet.
Receive information from CubaNet on your cell phone through WhatsApp. Send us a message with the word “CUBA” on the phone +525545038831, You can also subscribe to our electronic newsletter by giving click here.
