Havana/At 13:32 this Thursday, 28 hours and 9 minutes after Cuba suffered his fifth Total blackout In less than a year, the authorities said the connection was restored throughout the country. “All provinces are already linked” to the National Electrical System (SEN), the Ministry of Energy and Mines reported in its X account.
Half an hour later, the light returned to the writing of 14ymedioin the Havana municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, although not the water. As reported Havana Tribunein that territory Service will not be provided Until the early morning of this Friday. Similarly, Cerro will not have it until after ten o’clock today, such as Havana Center, Old Havana and different parts of October ten, where only Santos Suárez is promised water from 2 pm.
The Guiteras thermoelectric plant, of Matanzas, where the origin of this new energy collapse was – according to the official explanations – was torn around 11:30 and, according to the ministry also in its networks, managed to synchronize with the SEN and has a power of 50 megawatts (MW). “During the rest of the day, it will continue to raise its load,” he said Cubadebate.
That SEN is reconnected, however, it does not imply that the light has returned to all Cuban homes. Shortly after noon, the deputy director of the Electric Union (UNE), Omar Ramírez Mendoza, warned that “although it has returned to the condition prior to the fall, it is not yet possible to supply the total demand of the country.” At that time, they claimed to have 1,486 MW, just 42% of the maximum demand reported by the state days (around 3,500 MW).
The optimistic tone that some officials have shown in the last hours contrasts with the sad resignation, when not despair, of a population accustomed to living in the dark
The official also pointed out that “thanks to the accumulated experience in previous events, protocols have been consolidated that allow a faster response to restore service throughout the national territory.”
The official story, on the long day that the Cubans spent in the dark and starting all kinds of gadgets To solve the basic needs, it was, as usual in the regime, adjective inflation and heroic rhetoric. “The Guiteras gives off steam, sign of the starting process in the thermoelectric plant from early morning hours,” said a local journalist on social networks. “Inside, you breathe tension, meticulousness, wait. There are moments of silence, interrupted by the deafening noise of the steam leaving the pipes.”
The optimistic tone that some officials have shown in the last hours contrasts with the sad resignation, when not despair, of a population accustomed to living in the dark, to spoil food, to pique their mosquitoes without a fan or, as it happened to Havana Mariana, which this Thursday lost its ophthalmological appointment.
In an interview with Channel Caribe, the Deputy Minister of Public Health, Carilda Peña García, said there was no worrying contingency, since the structure groups of the hospitals worked, as well as the coverage of oxygen and nitrogen, and could be carried out without setbacks.
During the month of July, the daily average of hours without light in Cuba was almost 16 hours, and in August, of almost 15
Wednesday’s blackout was the second of its kind that has occurred on the island this year, after which it took place Last March. At the end of 2024, Sen suffered three disconnections similar in less than two months, plunging the country in the total darkness. The December 4 occurred by an “automatic shot” precisely in the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, as had also happened on October 18.
The departure of La Guiteras joined the stoppage of other centrals due to breakdown or maintenance: two units of the rent, two in Felton, one in Nuevitas, another in the CTE Mariel, another one in Santa Cruz del Norte and one more in Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, in Cienfuegos.
Just two days ago, the Ministry of Energy and Mines offered a devastating report, through its general director of Electricity, Lázaro Guerra Hernández. As the official explained in an appearance before the press, during the month of July, the daily average of hours without light in Cuba was almost 16 hours, and in August, almost 15.
Official data corroborated the daily suffering of Cubans, whose maximum current concern are electric cutsas reflected in the most recent report of the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights.
