English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
EFE/14ymedio, Havana, January 6, 2022 — The company Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (UNE) predicted for this Friday that the blackouts will simultaneously affect up to 6.9% of the territory during the busiest time. This is the second consecutive day this week with an estimate of blackouts due to deficit in electricity generation after almost three … Continue reading “Cuba Will Suffer Blackouts in 7 Percent of its Territory”
14ymedio, Madrid, 4 January 2022 — Cuba will again suffer blackouts between January and April, although they will be shorter, more localized and in order to do maintenance so that in May, the National Energy System (SEN) is prepared for the start of the high consumption season with the increase in temperatures. This was reported … Continue reading “The Cuban Government Congratulates Itself that Blackouts will Return but Only for Two or Three Hours a Day”
14ymedio, Madrid, 23 December 2022 — The Electric Union of Cuba is about to achieve a week without announcing an electricity deficit. The blackouts, which were a constant during the second half of 2022, have made a partial truce with the Government, which pledged — after the failed prediction of May — that in December … Continue reading “The Drop in Energy Demand Relieves the Blackouts in Cuba”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana | 9 December 2022 — Three floating plants of the Turkish company Karpowership can be seen these days in the vicinity of the Otto Parellada power plant, known as Tallapiedra, in Havana. Of them, only two, the one that arrived on November 15 and one more, seem to be working, … Continue reading “Three Turkish Floating Power Plants Scramble to End the Blackouts in Cuba”
14ymedio, Madrid, 2 December 2022 — The call this Thursday of the Escambray newspaper to its readers to leave a “question, reflection or opinion” for the Sancti Spíritus Electric Company immediately had angry responses. The official media announced that the state company will appear on December 7 in its newsroom “to clarify, as far as possible, the … Continue reading “Newspaper Readers Denounce the ‘Ruthlessness’ Against Sancti Spíritus in the Distribution of Blackouts in Cuba”
Natalia Lopez Moya, Havana | 28 November 2022 — Earlier this month, the Cuba-Mexico Friendship Agricultural Production Cooperative began planting potatoes in the municipality of Alquízar, Artemisa. However, the cold season got off to a bad start, and the power cuts forced changes in the irrigation cycles that have ended up damaging most of the crop. … Continue reading “Cuba: Most of the Potato Harvest in Alquizar Rotted Because of the Blackouts”
14ymedio, Havana, 17 October 2022 — The Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines, Liván Arronte Cruz, and the director of the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE), Jorge Armando Cepero Hernández, were dismissed from their respective positions this Monday. Without mentioning the names of those dismissed, in a brief note, Cubadebate reported that Vicente de la … Continue reading “The Blackouts Cost the Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines his Position”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 11 October 2022 — The leaders of the Communist Party in Bejucal had to endure the shouts of “Freedom in Bejucal,” “The people united will never be defeated” and “Let them leave,” which served as the rallying cry for the protests this Monday night in that municipality of Mayabeque. “They’ve … Continue reading “The Wave of Protests Against Blackouts and for Freedom Continues to Grow in Cuba”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 5 September 2022 — La Guiteras has been incorporated into Cuba’s national electricity system after overcoming the failures that caused its shutdown, news that in any other country in the world would be inconsequential. But in Cuba, in this agonizing summer of 2022, in which the alumbrones [a word coined … Continue reading “From Cuba’s Daily Drama of Blackouts to Unimplemented Innovations, No One Understands It”
14ymedio, Havana, 29 August 2022 — The troubadour Silvio Rodríguez has once again used his blog to complain to the Executive of Miguel Díaz-Canel about its attitude towards the protests, particularly the most recent ones, against the lack of light and constant blackouts. “I think that our government makes a serious mistake when it prevents the … Continue reading “Silivio Rodriguez Criticizes the Cuban Government for Blocking the People’s Protests Over the Blackouts”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 29 August 2022 — It is one thing to say that Cuba will overcome the current energy crisis; what Díaz-Canel did is quite another matter, he insulted the Cuban people who are fed up with so many lies, and with waiting for “The New Man” who will never arrive. Even … Continue reading “Cuban President Diaz-Canel and the Blackouts: Enemies On All Sides”
14ymedio, Havana, 30 August 2022 — The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, in Matanzas, left the National Electric System this Tuesday, according to the Cuban Electric Union (UNE), “due to losses of turbine parameters (empty).” Although the state company then assured that “work will be done immediately on the solution to the leak in the boiler … Continue reading “A New Fault Delays the Promise of Diaz-Canel and Raul Castro About the End of the Blackouts”
14ymedio, Yankiel Gutiérrez Faife, Taguayabón (Villa Clara), 23 August 2022 — A blackout in the city is not the same as one in a rural area. When the power goes out in an urban center, even in smaller towns, the buzz of voices begins to break the silence, the heat gets people to talk, scream, … Continue reading “No Blackouts in Taguayabon, Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 22 August 22, 2022 — The Camagüey city of Nuevitas, a protagonist on Thursday and Friday of the largest demonstrations in Cuba since July 11, 2021, wakes up on this repressed and silent Monday. Throughout the weekend, its inhabitants had their Internet access restricted, and the streets were patrolled by police, soldiers and … Continue reading “More Police and Arrests and Fewer Blackouts to Calm Things Down in Nuevitas, Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 16 August 2022 — “Noiseless and efficient,” according to the text that accompanies the photo of a power generator that, for about $4,000, promises to exorcise the demon from the blackouts. The most precious status symbol on the Island is a device that keeps appliances running when the government cuts off the power. … Continue reading “Every Man for Himself, Blackouts are Growing in Cuba and so is the Market for Generators”
