Authorities punish entities that do not participate in the rational use plan with the withdrawal of electricity service for seven days.
14ymedio, Madrid, June 18, 2025 — The only territory that had been kept out of the scheduled blackouts and the electricity deficit thanks to its independent energy system, the Isle of Youth, has also suddenly entered a crisis. On Monday, the electricity company, for the first time, reported blackouts lasting up to five hours per block, although many customers report up to 10 hours. On Tuesday, the authorities went one step further and announced emergency measures, faced with only half the power generation that is needed.
The Municipal Energy Council said that of the 18 generators on the island, only eight are running, providing 11 megawatts (MW), when more than 24 MW is needed. The situation is so critical that the first secretary of the Municipal Committee of the Party, Rafael Ernesto Licea, convened a meeting in the Caribe cinema in Nueva Gerona, where representatives of the electric company explained how to deal with the situation.
Starting this Tuesday, a tough savings package comes into effect that includes the suspension of climate equipment in the state and private sectors, with the sole exception of those “considered technological and approved by the National Office for the Control of the Rational Use of Energy in Cuba (ONURE).”
Starting this Tuesday, a tough savings package comes into effect that includes the suspension of climate equipment in the state and private sectors
“Since Tuesday, we have allowed the use of generators for production and service processes; hence, Alimentaria, for example, will produce bread with a generator and not with electricity from the grid in order to relieve congestion and affect the population as little as possible,” said the official. He stated that there is fuel, and that, in fact, the problem of the engines is not lack of fuel but is related to the “many years of operation” of the equipment and the “lack of resources to reactivate its functioning.”
The leisure sector will be most affected. The facilities of the Gran Caribe are obliged to use generators from 8 pm to 6 am, while the recreational establishments may be open only from Friday to Sunday, whether state or private. In addition, they cannot use air conditioning systems, and in the case of restaurants, they cannot use the ovens from 6 pm to 8 am, directly affecting the meal schedule.
One of the hardest measures is for cooling: refrigerators, storage rooms and containers must be turned off from 6 am to 6 pm, (half a day ), with the risk of spoilage and loss, unless they are powered by generators.
Licea was in the meeting with Yuladis García Segura, president of the Assembly of People’s Power, as well as other managers and representatives of mass organizations, politicians and students. At the meeting, the municipal mayor, Adiel Morera Macías, criticized several entities for not having delivered to ONURE the plan required for the control of the rational use of energy that corresponds to the current month, so “they will be withdrawn from service as of this Tuesday for seven days for violating the established rule.”
The measures -planned by law, said Morera, “now begin in a joint way and will stop as the availability increases and the municipal electrical system is restored, for which it already has the support of the country’s brigades.” The first time that President Miguel Díaz-Canel mentioned the word “joint” to refer to the electricity shortage was in 2019, and a situation began that has become structural and worsened day by day throughout the country.
“The interesting thing is that a few weeks ago it was leaked on the street by people who work in that area that we were going to start having blackouts, said a user of Islavisión about the announcement. I did not believe them at the time because the Isle of Youth operates with a system that is independent of the national one, but today I can see that they are using exactly the same strategies and justifications as in the rest of the country.”
“I did not believe them at the time because the Isle of Youth operates with a system that is independent of the national one, but today I can see that they are using exactly the same strategies and justifications as in the rest of the country”
Several commentators have recalled that in 2023, a group of Japanese came to the Isle of Youth to assemble a generation plant. “Is it already broken?” asked several with discomfort.
In April 2024, the authorities came together to hold an “Isle of Youth Electricity Improvement Project Completion Ceremony.” The work, carried out with a state subsidy, included the installation of the necessary equipment and devices, such as storage batteries, installations for energy reception and transformation, facilities and control equipment” to increase renewable energy from 5 per cent to 18 per cent. However, this has not been able to alleviate the current crisis, and the officials have asked the people to save electricity, pushing their patience to its limit.
“There is no more understanding!” someone commented. “What there is is hunger, heat, mosquitoes. Do not gather anymore and face the people without solutions! We are tired of so much lying and being told to save more than we are already getting. Eynough!!!” Proof of the fatigue accumulated by the citizens of the former Isle of Pines circulates on social networks. There are even demands for independence and calls to form an “autonomous republic” with its own laws, including free trade or
associated with the Government of Cuba through some form of agreement.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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