While Russia announces many projects without finalizing them, Beijing delivers solar parks without stopping.

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 30 June 2025 — They complained about too-long power cuts and got a substantial reduction because Chinese engineers have installed a photovolcaic park in the key sector of Cabaiguán, Sancti Spiritus, the province worst affected by blackouts.
The Chinese, who have shown themselves able to install solar parks much faster than normal on the island, have received power cuts from their local electric supply where they live much shorter than the normal 14 continuous hours
“They complained about the cuts, and as a result they have sevice from 5 pm to 9 pm and 6 am to 10 am,” said a local woman who knows about the situation but wanted to remain anonymous. “They were not shouting about it.” she said. “They asked to meet the authorities and raised their concerns, it was a complaint along the lines of we don’t agree with being without service at a time when we need it.”
The Chinese, she said, are staying at the Rancho Hatuey hotel, within circuit 119 of Sancti Spíritus, which, according to the authorities’ schedule, was only planned to have one hour of power for 14 hours of blackout. This continue reading
With the Chinese equipment comes trucks and fuel to transport it overland to make sure it reaches its final destination.
On this subject, Reuters published on Monday that shipments to Cuba from China via Mariel increased in August last year. The British agency has sources in import data and several foreign businessmen, and reports that the ships brought solar panels, steel, tools and other parts from ports such as Shanghai or Tianjin for the photovoltaic parks that are being built on the island at an accelerated pace.
And it’s not just the equipment that arrives. Coming with them are trucks and fuel to transport them overland to ensure they reach their final destination. “The impact of the arrival of Chinese ships can be seen throughout the Cuban countryside, where trucks with Chinese lettering travel over bumpy roads to reach remote destinations such as Jatibonico,” Reuters explains in its report, naming the city in Espiritu.
One of the sources, Noel Gonzalez, a driver, is “amazed and grateful” to the agency “for the Chinese diligence”: “The Chinese come and periodically check every litre of oil, every route we take,” he said.
In its article, titled “China quietly replaces Russia as Cuba’s main benefactor,” Reuters also refers to the announced arrival of the Russians at the Uruguay sugar mill in Jatibonico, which has yet to materialise. “When are they coming? That’s all anyone is talking about,” Carlos Tirado Pino, one of the few remaining employees at the sugar mill, which remains inactive, told the British agency.
In October 2022, four months after this newspaper first reported the closure of the “colossus of Jatibonico”, the news was confirmed by the official newspaper Escambray. The article hinted that the hope for hundreds of workers who were left without jobs was in Moscow, as a Russian delegation had visited Uruguay and expressed its intention to create a joint venture that would save it.
Eddy Gil Pérez, director of Empresa Agroindustrial Azucarera Uruguay, showed his enthusiasm at the time for the possible Russian management: “We are among the nine sugar mills in the country chosen for this business”, he revealed. More than six months later, in February 2023, workers in the sector were informed that the agreement had been finalised with Moscow and that Uruguay was not to be counted on for the harvest because it was undergoing refurbishment work.
But since then, nothing has happened. A state worker sceptically told 14ymedio “They talk about coming here, and projects, but all in an idealistic tone, like back in Soviet times.”
According to Reuters, while China is getting on with building solar parks – with 55 programmed for this year – Russia’s plans for the island are just promises.
“Bogged down in the war in Ukraine and reluctant to invest more money in the Cuban crisis, it is now less of a historical partner,” the agency commented, quoting William LeoGrande, professor of Latin American politics at American University: “Russia’s words have always been bigger than its deeds. If China is stepping up its aid in the face of Cuba’s desperate situation, it could be a real lifesaver”.
Translated by GH
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