English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 9 September 2021 — The Cuban Electricity Union (UNE) has once again announced failures and problems in the generation system, a situation that is no longer news and that will cause more service cuts and blackouts in the coming days. The state company issued a statement hours after several incidents occurred that caused … Continue reading “Breakdowns and Excuses Used to Justify Cuba’s Multiple Blackouts”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 25 August 2021 — Electric generators have become the latest object of desire for Cubans. Private businesses, tourist rental houses and domestic spaces increasingly need these devices in the midst of constant blackouts. “With the neighbors on the ground floor we bought a generator, small but that helps us, if … Continue reading “Fear of Blackouts Triggers Interest in Electric Generators in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 8 August 2021 — “I haven’t been able to sleep all night, moving the fan so my child can rest,” Heidy Vázquez, from the Aguada de Pasajeros municipality in Cienfuegos, comments to this newspaper, speaking about a blackout that lasted six hours due to technical failures they are affecting the whole country. In the midst … Continue reading “Cuba’s Electric Union Announces Countrywide Blackouts”
14ymedio, Havana, 25 June 2021 — Electric power cannot ‘lift its head’ and jumps from one crisis to another. It has only been a month since supply issues in May led to the suspension of work in non-essential businesses and now the Electrical Union is warning that the Cubans will face four-hour daily blackouts. “As reported on … Continue reading “Cuba’s Electrical Union Announces Daily Four Hour Blackouts This Summer in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 17 May 2021 — The faults in the thermoelectric plants that, according to the authorities, caused the blackouts reported throughout the island last week, have now been repaired. “The electrical workers worked hard to solve the breakdowns in several plants in the country and achieve stability in power generation,” the State newspaper Granma published … Continue reading “The Power is Back On But Cubans Remain Concerned About Blackouts”
14ymedio, Havana, 15 May 2021 — After hundreds of complaints in the social networks, Cuban authorities announced this Friday that the electrical blackouts in recent days are due to breakages in plants in Matanzas and Havana and that they are working on the problem. Directors of the Ministry of Energy and Mines said on The … Continue reading “Work Suspended in ‘Non-essential’ Companies to Limit Blackouts in Cuba”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 16 September 2020 — This Wednesday, September 16, the scheduled blackouts begin in Havana to reduce energy consumption and, according to the official press, stop “a tendency to overuse that the country cannot afford.” This completes prophecy made by the Government a year ago when Miguel Díaz-Canel announced, on September 11, … Continue reading “With the Blackouts, the ‘Temporary Situation’ Becomes Permanent”
14ymedio, Havana, July 9, 2020 — The epidemiological situation is complicated in Havana, and the light at the end of the tunnel never arrives. This couldn’t be better said. On Wednesday, while part of the capital was living in a blackout that lasted for nine hours, the authorities, in their daily meeting about supervising the … Continue reading “Blackouts and Covid Outbreaks Appear in Havana”
Elias Amor Bravo, Economist, April 20, 2020 — Unión Nacional Eléctrica, the state enterprise that has a monopoly over Cuba’s electrical supply, wants people isolated in their homes due to the quarantine as a consequence of COVID 19 to consume less electricity. Let’s go, turn off the lights. The company declared in the state-run newspaper Granma that … Continue reading “Blackouts in Sight in the Midst of COVID19”
14ymedio, Havana, April 19th, 2020 — Cubans fear that added to the Covid-19 crisis on the Island will be electrical black-outs due to exhaustion of fuel supply, a concern that has increased this week when the authorities made an appeal to save energy on account of the increased consumption due to confinement and the elevated … Continue reading “Cubans Dread the Return of Lengthy Blackouts”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 7 October 2019 — The owner of a spacious restaurant in Vedado walks around the premises carrying a fan to place it near a table where some customers are sweating buckets. “I am very sorry but they have put me a fixed quota of electricity and I can barely turn on … Continue reading “Blackouts for Cuba’s Private Restaurants But Not for State Hotels”
14ymedio / Mario J. Pentón, Havana, 14 July 2019 — Despite the government’s commitment not to allow “programmed blackouts” this summer, power cuts of several hours are multiplying throughout the country and causing annoyance among the population. Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Mayabeque, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Camagüey, Las Tunas, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba are the most … Continue reading “Cubans Increasingly Annoyed by Blackouts and Government Silence”
This video is under two minutes long. Originally posted in 2012, we reposted it in 2014 given what was happening in Venezuela. It seems even more prescient now, in 2019, so here it is again. The subtitles appear to have stopped working. Here are the lyrics: IMPORTED BLACKOUTS – An original song by Ciro Diaz … Continue reading “Venezuela Now Has Imported Blackouts / Ciro Diaz”
14ymedio, Ricardo Fernandez, Camagüey, 20 February 2018 — Darkness and silence envelops the nights in the city of Camagüey since the fire at the 10 de Octubre Thermoelectric Company, in Nuevitas, on 25 January. Almost a month later, blackouts and annoyance continue to affect residents. Brigades from various parts of the country are working under the … Continue reading “Blackouts and Annoyance Continue in Camagüey”
“If water and electricity have the same owner, why do they turn off my power when I need it most?” Cubanet.org, Gladys Linares, Havana, 28 April 2015 – The word “blackout” was eliminated by the Electric Company. Nevertheless, blackouts continue, managed, disguised, masked with terms like free channel, breakdown, maintenance, pole change, broken cables, etc., … Continue reading “No More Blackouts? / Cubanet, Gladys Linares”
