The eastern part of Cuba has been hit by a new massive power outage, the national electricity company announced, at a time when the island, which is under an energy blockade by Washington, is facing a deep energy crisis, reported Agence France-Presse. The company specified that seven of the fifteen provinces have been affected, writes BTA.
The repeated power outages in the country have caused social tension in Havana tonight. Residents have expressed their outrage at the outages, which in some cases last for over 20 hours.
During the protest last night, residents of several neighborhoods of Havana banged pots and pans to express their dissatisfaction. "Give us the electricity!" chanted residents of Playa, a neighborhood in the western part of the capital. Yesterday, several dozen people also protested in San Miguel del Padrón, on the outskirts of Havana.
The island with a population of 9.6 million has been facing a severe energy crisis since mid-2024, exacerbated by the oil embargo imposed by Washington since the beginning of this year. Since the end of January, only a Russian tanker carrying 100,000 tons of crude oil has been allowed to dock in Cuba. That fuel has already run out, the Cuban government announced today.
Havana blames Washington for the critical state of the electricity grid, while the United States believes that Cuba's energy crisis is the result of domestic economic mismanagement.
Today, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said that Cuba is "ready" to consider the $100 million aid offer made to it by the United States.
“We are ready to listen to the parameters of the offer and the way in which it would be implemented“, said the head of Cuban diplomacy.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio renewed the US offer yesterday on the condition that the aid be distributed through the Catholic Church, without going through the communist government.