Power Outages Exceeding 1,000 MW in Cuba: "Does Anyone Remember What It's Like to Sleep with Electricity?"

The Unión Eléctrica de Cuba announced on Monday that there will be power outages exceeding 1,000 MW due to a deficit in their generation capacity. "We estimate an availability of 2,330 MW during peak hours and a maximum demand of 3,300 MW, resulting in a deficit of 970 MW. If conditions remain as forecasted, we anticipate an outage of 1,040 MW during this period," stated the state-owned company that monopolizes the island's electrical service on its social media.

On the previous day, the UNE had predicted outages due to a deficit of 1,055 MW. However, on Monday, they acknowledged that during peak hours, the outages reached 1,226 MW. This "calculation error" is common in the company's estimates, which are overseen by Alfredo López Valdés.

The population is growing desperate. The months of April and May have been especially hot, even setting temperature records, and power outages lasting up to 18 hours daily prevent Cubans from resting and keeping food refrigerated.

The credibility of the UNE is as low as the trust Cubans have in their rulers, the "officials" of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), who are incapable of solving the slow-motion collapse of the national electrical system (SEN).

The "strategy" of Miguel Díaz-Canel's administration was to plan maintenance (and outages) during these months until June, aiming for a summer of full thermoelectric capacity without power cuts. However, Díaz-Canel has already warned that it is impossible to guarantee there will be no outages during July and August.

Sitting in front of foreign journalist Ignacio Ramonet, the resident of the Palacio de la Revolución showed empathy for Cubans suffering from the outages caused by his government's poor management. "They've been terrible, up to 20 hours," he said in mid-May. And they continue to be so today.

This empathy was absent in August 2022, when thousands of Cubans took to the streets in Havana and other cities to protest the outages they were experiencing. At that time, the leader called his victims "indecent."

"All this situation has been exploited by the enemies of the revolution to create discouragement and uncertainty, to call for acts of vandalism and terrorism, to promote social disorder, and to disrupt public order and tranquility," he said. "Unfortunately, there are people who, with quite indecent and vandalistic behavior, lend themselves to these actions," he added.

The arrests and sentences of protesters in Nuevitas, Caimanera, or the Cuban capital itself testify to the "revolutionary violence" the totalitarian Cuban regime deploys against those who challenge or demand accountability from them.

Warned by messages from official media serving the PCC and aware of the reach of the "state terrorism" practiced by the regime's totalitarian power, Cubans express their discontent and criticism on social media, restraining their desire to protest against their rulers as much as possible.

"Does anyone remember what it's like to sleep with electricity? We seem like cavemen," complained a Cuban on the UNE's social media. "No words. We can't take it anymore. They should leave and hand over the country; after all, what are they doing?" commented another.

"I sum it up like this: Ten units will come online this week. Trust, it will be resolved, we just don't know how many will go offline. Better to take it with humor because there aren't even any pills, and heart attacks are rampant," joked one user.

"They always exceed the deficit they predict, meaning they overachieve the power outage plan," added another Cuban, astonished by the dimensions of an energy crisis that not only surpasses the government's capacity to solve it but also the language's ability to describe it.