English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Madrid, 14 February 2023 — A fire in a cane field was the cause of the disconnection of the National Electricity System (SEN) that affected half of Cuba this Monday from the center to the east of the Island. The disconnection, from Ciego de Ávila to Guantánamo, occurred around 2 in the afternoon and … Continue reading “A Fire in a Cane Field Caused a Seven-Hour Blackout in the Middle of Cuba”
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, Havana, 6 November 2022 — The largest thermoelectric power plant in Cuba, Antonio Guiteras de Matanzas, was disconnected again this Saturday. The Electric Union of Cuba (UNE) reported that its departure from the National Electricity System was due to a “technological failure” that occurred 19 days after its synchronization to the network. In an … Continue reading “Cuban Experts Continue to Look for the ‘Technological Failure’ in the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Plant”
14ymedio, Havana, 1 November 2022 — Cuba lost two other thermoelectric power plants due to breakdowns this Monday, when Unit 4 of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes in Cienfuegos and Unit 5 of the Antonio Maceo in Santiago de Cuba left the National Electric System (SEN). “With these unforeseen departures, an availability of 1741 MW … Continue reading “Two More Thermoelectric Plants are Shut Down in Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 18 October 2022 — On the same day that the official press dedicated a triumphalist article to the “stability” of the thermoelectric plant (CTE) Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, in Cienfuegos, unit 4 of this plant was disconnected from the National Electrical System (SEN). With the usual euphemisms, a brief note from the Cuban … Continue reading “Despite the Change of Minister, More Power Plants are Shutting Down in Cuba”
14ymedio, Madrid, 28 September 2022 — In the midst of absolute darkness on the Island, Cuban Television, in a special report at midnight this Wednesday, updated information about the general blackout, from which only citizens who had electric generators were spared. The technical director of the Electric Union, Lázaro Guerra, explained that the thermal power … Continue reading “Technicians are Trying to Restore Electricity in Cuba, at ‘Total Zero’ Since Last Night”
14ymedio, Havana, 29 September 29, 2022 — The 14ymedio newsroom woke up in the dark for the second day in a row this Thursday. From the windows on the 14th floor of the building you could see small areas in the municipalities of Cerro and Old Havana with light, but none in Playa and El Vedado. … Continue reading “In Cuba, Electricity is Gradually Returning to the Areas Near Hospitals”
14ymedio, Havana, 13 September 2022 — On Sunday, 83% of homes in Cuba were affected by power outages, which lasted about seven hours on average, according to the reports from Cuba’s Electric Union, which were shared on national television on Monday and a very similar situation is expected today. According to data published by UNE … Continue reading “Officials Brag That the Price of Electricity, Ever More Scarce, Does Not Increase 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, 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, Madrid, 25 August 2022 — The panorama of Cuba’s national electricity system offered by the officials who appeared on State TV’s Roundtable program on Wednesday is catastrophic and, from what they said, will continue to be so for many more months. The Minister of Energy and Mines himself, Liván Arronte Cruz, declared that maintaining … Continue reading “‘There Is No Money’ to Repair Thermoelectric Plants in Cuba, But There is Money to Invest in Luxury Hotels”
14ymedio, Havana, 11 August 2022 — The Antonio Guiteras de Matanzas Thermoelectric Plant stopped working again this Wednesday due to lack of cooling water, hours after having reestablished its operations. Two days earlier, the most important thermoelectric plant in Cuba had left the National Electricity System also due to the lack of pressure in the … Continue reading “With Just Three Hours of Electricity This Thursday, Pinar del Rio is the Most Affected Province in Cuba”
14ymedio, Bayamo, 4 August 2022 — Things are changing in Cuba and not only in the capital. The residents of Bayamo, in modest Granma Province, no longer remain silent in the face of blackouts and openly challenge the authorities. Last Tuesday, a group of people gathered at the Altar of the Heroes, next to the … Continue reading “Cubans Respond to the Blackouts in Bayamo with Protests, Mockery and Posters”
