There is no money, no job, no basic food products, and now there is even no electricity. In Cuba, there was a failure of the main power plant supplying the island with electricity, which resulted in a complete blackout. This beautiful island off the coast of the United States is an open-air museum whose economy has stopped developing due to the communist dictatorship, and now the lives of Cubans have been further complicated by the hurricane season – exceptionally destructive this year.
Since October 18, the reality in Cuba has been different. The failure of the largest thermal power plant on the island meant that Cubans suddenly had no access to electricity.
– It's bad, very bad, because without electricity we have nothing, we have no food, we have no way to freeze things, we have no way to work, we have nothing and it's hard. But what can we do? – asks Mayris Soria, a resident of Cuba.
The Cuban authorities decided to close schools and some state-owned enterprises. Offices and most shops stopped working. During the day, lines of several dozen meters long lined up on city streets for gas cylinders and firewood. The government assures that it is doing everything it can to return the situation to normal.
– We are trying to restore electricity gradually so as not to overload the network. We are checking various variants, starting with switching on the energy in smaller areas, says Lazaro Guerra from the Ministry of Energy and Mines in Cuba.
SEE ALSO: Blackout and hurricane. Government suspends activities that are “not absolutely essential”
Race against time
Since October 18, there has been a race against time to save perishable food. The one that can no longer be used ends up straight on the street. The hours after sunset are the hardest.
– People here kill time by playing dominoes in the street. They complain that they are hungry and that there is no electricity or water. The kids sleep outside because it's just too hot to sleep inside. The people I talk to are joking, but it is also clear that they are becoming more and more nervous about the situation. They say they have no idea when the power will come back. And this is the case all over the island, reports CNN journalist Patrick Oppmann.
The situation in Cuba is further worsened by weather conditions. One hurricane after another is sweeping through the island. The one that has just visited Cuba is the 10th in a row since the beginning of this fall.
– I'm 72 years old and I've never seen anything like this before, says Luis Daroman, a Cuban retiree.
Hurricane Oscar hit CubaReuters
“We are on the verge of total collapse”
Crumbling public infrastructure and subsequent natural disasters have deepened Cuba's already difficult economic situation. Since Donald Trump tightened sanctions in 2019, the Cuban government has been virtually cut off from investment funds. The power failure across the country has therefore become another excuse to express social dissatisfaction.
– It's too hard, too hard. Everything is deteriorating and there are more and more power outages. We are on the verge of total collapse, says one of the inhabitants of Cuba.
On Sunday, October 20, electricity was restored in some places in Cuba for a few hours. But as of Monday afternoon Polish time, most of the island was still cut off from power.
Facts about the World TVN24 BiS
Main photo source: Reuters