The initiative, presented by Nicolás Maduro during the ALBA summit, is announced without details about its scope or resources, while Cuba faces prolonged blackouts and a structural energy crisis.
MADRID, Spain.- The member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP) agreed this Sunday on the creation of an International Energy and Electricity Mission to support the Cuban regime in the midst of the sustained collapse of the national electro-energy system, marked by prolonged blackouts, fuel shortages and structural failures accumulated over decades.
The initiative, according reported the EFE agency, was announced during the XXV Summit of Heads of State and Government of ALBA, held virtually, and was proposed by the Venezuelan dictator, Nicolás Maduro, one of the main political allies from Havana. The mechanism, as officially disclosed, would have an “extraordinary” nature and would be aimed at contributing to the recovery of the Island’s electrical system.
The announcement reinforces the political alliance between Caracas and the Cuban Government, despite the fact that Venezuela is going through its own energy crisis, with a deteriorated electrical system and an oil industry far below its historical capacity. In addition, It occurs a few days after the seizure of a ship became known that transported crude oil destined for the Island, and after the publication of journalistic investigations that indicate the resale of part of the Venezuelan oil received by the Cuban authorities under preferential conditions, in a context marked by the lack of transparency about the use and final destination of those supplies.
So far, no specific details have been made public about the real scope of the mission, the available resources, the execution times or the type of technical or material support that Cuba would receive. Nor has it been reported which countries would assume the costs or how the energy limitations faced by several members of the bloc would be overcome.
The electricity crisis in Cuba has worsened in recent years, with blackouts of more than 12 and up to 20 hours a day in large areas of the country, seriously affecting daily life, economic production, basic services and the health of the population.
Although the official discourse of the Cuban regime and its regional allies insists on attributing the crisis to the US embargo, independent experts and economists have repeatedly pointed out that the deterioration of the electrical system responds mainly to years of lack of investment, poor state management, technological obsolescence and extreme dependence on imported fuels, under a centralized model without transparency.
