Over 30 circuits in Havana have started to recover from a widespread blackout affecting Cuba since last Friday, according to official sources. By midday, 20 circuits had already been reconnected in the Cuban capital, particularly in the municipalities of Guanabacoa, Boyeros, San Miguel del Padrón, and Cotorro, as reported by the Havana Power Company on social media.
However, in a subsequent update, Lázaro Manuel Alonso, a journalist from the state-run Canal Caribe, reported that the number had risen to 35 circuits by early afternoon, which equates to 64.29 megawatts. Alonso also noted that electricity has been restored to 16 hospitals and that 82,564 customers now have power.
Challenges of Prolonged Power Outages
Residents of Havana are generally less accustomed to extended power outages, a situation more common in other provinces, where blackouts can last up to 18 hours daily. Yet, the collapse of the island's electrical system has impacted everyone equally. Since midday Friday, the national grid has been non-operational. The limited electricity supply, which was crucial for restarting thermoelectric plants through distributed generation, vanished, leaving little hope for overcoming the crisis.
This Sunday, significant failures were reported at Unit 3 of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes thermoelectric plant in Cienfuegos, and at the Antonio Maceo plant, also known as Rente, in Santiago de Cuba, leaving residents of Santiago and Guantánamo without power.
Government Response and Blame
Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel has once again attributed the collapse of the island's electrical system to the United States, claiming this scenario exemplifies the problems caused by the "blockade" and its effects. He argued against those who attribute the outages to inefficiency or deliberate inconvenience, asserting many prefer not to discuss the impact of U.S. policies toward Cuba.