The official press is multiplying information on this subject to convey the idea that the authorities are prioritizing the generation of electricity.
14ymedio, Havana, February 17, 2025 — The recipe of “zero tolerance” has spread in recent months to energy crimes. In the middle of a February, with blackouts that exceed 30 hours in a row, the authorities urgently seek to transmit a message of calm to contain a population that is increasingly tired and annoyed by the lack of electricity. The next ten days are expected to be key: on February 28 they must synchronize with the national electrical system (SEN) several of the solar parks that are being built in a hurry and running with Chinese help. Until that moment arrives, the slogan is to keep the population pacified.
There is a proliferation of information that supports the idea that the solution is near and that the Government is taking care of the main concern of Cubans. After dedicating the program Hablemos Cuba to this matter last week, Cubadebate on Monday reproduced a report published on Sunday by the official newspaper Invasor, from Ciego de Ávila, which highlights the measures taken against those who commit crimes that affect the country’s energy situation.
In the article, which takes the opportunity to show that the province has a “high level of electrification” and efficient agricultural irrigation systems, it is admitted that Ciego de Ávila is among the most affected territories “by the incidence of crimes against electricity generation.”
Keilyn González Varela, head prosecutor of the Department of Criminal Procedures, said that between 2024 and so far this year, there have been 43 criminal acts by 32 individuals. The media accuses them of being “connivers and opportunists,” who profit “from stealing diesel from transformers, fuel from electricity-generating sites and components from the photovoltaic solar parks.”
One of the cases cited by the official as an example is the theft of 6,625 liters of diesel in 2024 from the Cayo Coco electricity generator, which “could have caused the suspension of 10 hours of the electric service in more than three hotels of the Jardines del Rey tourist center,” she says, leaving some doubt.
As an almost secondary issue, this paragraph also raises uncertainty that the population “doesn’t escape harm, either,” since, by stealing the fuel, “numerous families in an urban or rural community would have suffered from prolonged blackouts, given the scarcity once the equipment collapsed.”
The report also mentions the theft of screws, washers and nuts from a photovoltaic park in Ciego de Ávila, which also occurred in Matanzas. This, also in the subjunctive, “would have been incapable of achieving the ability to generate about 21 megawatts (MW) for the electrical system, once the work is completed,” says the text, which blames the facts on the high prices paid for those materials on the black market, derived from the shortage.
“The Prosecutor’s Office has zero tolerance for this type of crime, which is shown by the sanction requested and the sanction to be imposed, including pre-trial detention for the sabotage and bribery,” warns provincial prosecutor María Victoria Sifonte Ayup, who announces severity and prevention policies in which mass organizations will collaborate with the police.
“The Prosecutor’s Office has zero tolerance for this type of crime, which is shown by the sanction requested and the sanction to be imposed, including pre-trial detention for the sabotage and bribery,”
Also aimed at calming the population seems to be the reiteration of a report that appeared for the first time in December 2024 and is repeated this Monday in official media. This is the aid offered by Russia, valued at two million dollars, to supply spare parts needed by thermoelectric plants. The interview, replicated in Rebelión, was duplicated in recent days by several media, and today Cubadebate repeats it, highlighting that among the projects is the “construction of a TPP (thermoelectric) energy unit of 200 MW, as well as the modernization of four existing units of 100 MW each.”
For this Monday, the forecast is again disastrous. With a demand of 3,280 MW and a generation of 1,450 MW, the deficit calculated for the peak hour is 1,520 MW. Unit 3 of Santa Cruz del Norte, Unit 6 of Renté and all of Felton, with its two units, are still damaged. In addition, unit 2 of Santa Cruz del Norte, 3 and 4 of Cienfuegos and 5 of Renté are under maintenance: a total of 293 MW in thermal electric generation.
Added to that is the lack of 330 MW in the distributed generation due to the lack of fuel. “The President said it from the first day,” joked a Cuban on social networks: ’we are continuity and we’re going for more.’ Obviously, he was referring to more blackouts, inflation and shortages of food and medicine. In short, more misery.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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