The José Martí power plant was taken out of service, like many others in the national electricity system, due to obsolescence and lack of maintenance.
14ymedio, Havana, 23 May 2025 — The authorities of Matanzas have not explained why they never “gave a destination” to the 500 cubic meters of fuel stored for ten years in two tanks of the old José Martí thermoelectric plant, which this Thursday suffered a leak. The latest official press report, published early this Friday, explains that it has not yet been possible to suction the mixture of fuel oil and crude stored there since 2015, which now threatens to spill into the bay.
Located in the industrial zone of Matanzas, the José Martí power plant was shut down, as were many others in the national electricity system due to obsolescence and lack of maintenance. It is not explained why that amount of fuel was kept there; according to the newspaper Girón, it was used to start up the plant.
The authorities said that the two tanks, their access pipes and the spill containment trays were in total disuse. According to Román Pérez Castañeda, director of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric company, which has jurisdiction over the ruins of the Martí, “certain actions” had been taken to extract the oil, but they were not successful.
The contents of the tanks ended up pouring into the tray this Thursday, and the official press published shocking images. The substance, of remarkable viscosity, occupies all the surface around the tanks. “Something may have gone wrong with the tank body itself or with the access pipes,” said Castañeda, who has so far given no satisfactory explanation for both the disaster or the fact that this amount of fuel was stored and available.
Several actions are now being undertaken to “minimize the risks of a disaster,” an unsettling phrase given that the Supertank Base that burned down in 2022 is not far from there, and two years later a tank of the Guiteras itself burned. An attempt is being made to prevent a similar fire in the Martí, and rock material has ben brought with a view to making a trench and pressurized steam has been fired to decrease the viscosity of the crude oil and facilitate its extraction.
That the fuel will eventually spill into the bay is one of the scenarios envisaged, judging by the report from the authorities. They have therefore taken unspecified measures to “reduce the damage to the Matanzas frog population,” a task for the fire brigade.
As a sort of nostalgic note the authorities have recalled that the Martí was once a jewel of the national electrical system. It was the “most reliable block” before its exit from the grid in 2015, and “one of the most efficient,” as well as operating with domestic crude.
On Friday morning, Girón merely said that the extraction “progresses.” Other official reporters have commented on the news to emphasize that it is “oil for non-commercial use” and that, as the journalist José Miguel Solís said, the leak was only a “scare.”
Shaken by the recent energy disasters in Matanzas, many readers have asked questions: “How many years has it been out of use? Why do these tanks store that dangerous residue? What if there was no lightning rod? Was it a short-circuit? Or negligence? What was the cost of the dangerous disaster of not so long ago? Aren’t the tanks checked and serviced regularly? And don’t firefighters inspect those hazardous areas or other areas that are their concern? And, my friends, one wonders how long this will go on.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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