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After Second Power Outage, 10 Million Cubans Endure Saturday Afternoon Blackout (msn.com) 124

Posted by EditorDavid from the 90-miles-from-Florida dept.
The Miami Herald reports: Cuba's electrical grid shut down again early Saturday, leaving the island without electricity after authorities tried but failed to restore power following an earlier nationwide blackout on Friday. The island's Electric Union reported a second "total outage" at 6:15 a.m., just hours after officials reported they had restored power in a few "microsystems" all over the island... The country has been going through its worst economic crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union, and the government lacks money to buy oil in the international market to meet domestic demand.

Cubans irked by the daily blackouts defied the country's Draconian laws punishing criticism of the government and left several comments in official news outlets calling for government officials to resign. The second outage will likely exacerbate public frustration as food begins to spoil because of the lack of refrigeration.
Two hours ago, Reuters reported that Cuba's government "said on Saturday it had made some progress in gradually re-establishing electrical service across the island, including to hospitals and parts of the capital Havana..."

"Most of Cuba's 10 million people, however, remained without electricity on Saturday afternoon." Traffic lights were dark at intersections throughout Havana, and most commerce was halted...

Cuban officials have said even if the immediate grid collapse is resolved, the electricity crisis will continue. Cuba produces little of its own crude oil, and fuel deliveries to the island have dropped significantly this year, as Venezuela, Russia and Mexico, once important suppliers, have reduced their exports to Cuba.
Mexico experienced a historic drop in production, according to the New York Times, while Venezuela is selling its oil to foreign companies to ease its own economic crisis: The experts had warned for years: Cuba's power grid was on the verge of collapse, relying on plants nearly a half-century old and importing fuel that the cash strapped Communist government could barely afford... Cuban economists and foreign analysts blamed the crisis on several factors: the government's failure to tackle the island's aging infrastructure; the decline in fuel supplies from Venezuela, Mexico and Russia; and a lack of capital investment in badly needed renewable systems, such as wind and solar.

Jorge Piñon, a Cuban-born energy expert at the University of Texas at Austin, highlighted that Cuba's electricity grid relies on eight very large power plants that are close to 50 years old. "They have not received any operational maintenance much less capital maintenance in the last 12 to 15 years," he said, adding that they have a lifetime of only 25-30 years. "So, number one, it's a structural problem, they are breaking down all the time and that has a domino effect," he said. Compounding the problems, Cuba burns crude oil as a fuel for its plants. Experts said Cuba's own crude oil production is very heavy in sulfur and metals that can impair the thermoelectric combustion process. "So they have to be constantly repairing them, and they're repairing them with Band-Aids," said Mr. Piñon...

"If they can't turn these plants back on there is a concern that this could turn into another mass exodus," said Ricardo Herrero, the director of the Cuba Study Group in Washington. "They are really short on options," he added.

After Second Power Outage, 10 Million Cubans Endure Saturday Afternoon Blackout More | Reply

After Second Power Outage, 10 Million Cubans Endure Saturday Afternoon Blackout

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  • Solution is obviously soalr and wind. (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    They should get solar panels from China!

    • They should get solar panels from China!

      Solar and wind in an island state ravaged by hurricanes?... Sure you jest. Geotermal and tidal for the win.

      • Has there ever been a serious attempt to normalize relations between the 2 countries?

        The most sensible option, politics aside, would be for a US company to lay an undersea power cable connecting the main island to the North American grid.

        Here, Basslink supplies bidirectional power from Victoria to Tasmania via a 370km connection.

        • Has there ever been a serious attempt to normalize relations between the 2 countries?

          Not really. Obama made the first steps toward ending some of the embargos and sanctions, but Trump put them all back into place and then Biden actually added restrictions.

          The most sensible option, politics aside, would be for a US company to lay an undersea power cable connecting the main island to the North American grid.

          That would make a huge difference for Cuba, but it's literally illegal for any company to do it thanks to the embargos that have been in place since the late 1960s.

  • In a few more years most of the formerly Cuban population will be living in the United states, might as well join the US entirely then.

    • No, they will turn into another North Korea... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Nope, Cuba is Russian's North Korea. A brutal, puppet regime propped up by a superpower whose only reason for existing is a distraction and potentially a base for attack against the West. This is why the current regime hasn't been toppled because if it does get weak, Wagner will be sending people there to make opposition leaders disappear.

      • North Korea has a peasant population less exposed to modern mass media and less connected to foreign family. It will be a long long time before Cuba has a similarly indoctrinated population. Also Russia is no super power. Pooh keeps the lights on in North Korea, Putler can't manage that for Cuba.

        • Also Russia is no super power.

          You can say that again. They're using artillery produced in the 40s [newsweek.com] in their two week operation.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by burni2 ( 1643061 )

          "North Korea has a peasant population less exposed to modern mass media .."

          Because that those expose themself to modern media, get executed - especially if they watch K-Pop!

      • Nope, Cuba is Russian's North Korea. A brutal, puppet regime propped up by a superpower whose only reason for existing is a distraction and potentially a base for attack against the West.

        Uh, define those “super” powers in that superpower.

        The current state of Cuba tends to question their ability or even desire to “prop” them up.

        • Ukraine war itâ(TM)s costing heavy resources. They are letting go of Cuba cause they have to.

          • Not only is Russia burning through so many resources and proving the failure of those weapons over and over. Russia is turning towards North Korean conscripts to keep throwing bodies into the breach.

            • Not only is Russia burning through so many resources and proving the failure of those weapons over and over. Russia is turning towards North Korean conscripts to keep throwing bodies into the breach.

              A lot of the more modern Russian weapons are pretty good. The problem however, is the support and maintenance is often missing. In addition, they are stuck in a WW2 paradigm of throwing cannon fodder at the problem and lives lost be damned.

              So the difference? In WW2, the Germans horribly mistreated the Russians, and had plans of killing many millions for Germany's lebensraum so throwing huge masses of humanity at the Germans made sense because it was better to die quickly in battle than fall into German h

      • That tiny island state with a population of just over 11 million, which is a founder member of the UN, which has excellent diplomatic relations with most countries in the Americas and Africa, which has so far resisted crippling US sanctions, which have lead to widespread malnutrition, US military invasions, CIA assassination attempts, & is home to the USA's extreme rendition & torture programme in Guantanomo Bay? Is that the brutal regime you're talking about?

        Maybe the USA should adopt their univ

        • You make Cuba sound like a paradise!

          When are you moving there? Got any real estate tips for where I should look? Who is your real estate agent?

          I can't imagine why the US has a long standing anti-Cuba policy. Can't have anything to do with being a Russian base 90 miles off our coast and all the fucking around they've done in Africa, Central America and Caribbean islands to spread their political philosophy of goodness and happiness for all or hosting Soviet nuclear missiles. And the policy continues to t

    • Only if they bring their delicious recipes.

    • Why would the US take them. They are resource poor and bring no assets besides people, of which the US has plenty. They would be an economic drain.

      • Since when does the US get a choice of who immigrates? Hundreds of thousands were caught trying to come in last year, including the ones not caught it won't be too long before most of them are in the US regardless.

        • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

          by larryjoe ( 135075 )

          Since when does the US get a choice of who immigrates? Hundreds of thousands were caught trying to come in last year, including the ones not caught it won't be too long before most of them are in the US regardless.

          Uh, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Immigration Act of 1917, the Immigration Act of 1924, etc. Europeans have essentially always gotten a free pass, aside from occasionally turning away a few undesired poor Europeans. But Asians have always been turned away aside from the few times when cheap laborers were needed.

      • Why would the US take them. They are resource poor and bring no assets besides people, of which the US has plenty. They would be an economic drain.

        Cuba was vegas before vegas, and can be Vegas II again, but no, the cubans want to go at it alone, but under a momre modern non-communist western type govt.

        • The Cubans are all coming to the US at a very rapid pace.

          • Pinky's Brain writes:

            The Cubans are all coming to the US at a very rapid pace.

            About half a million people in 4 years is 125,000 per year, which works out to 0.00037 of US population.
            I swear to GOD I am going to install fire extinguishers at head height so people coming in the door with their hair on fire can be immediately served with what they so desperately need; a bucket of ice water in the face. Besides, if you want to talk about who "belongs" somewhere, justify your presents in the US.

            • Lying with statistics.

              They mostly go to south Florida where it is now difficult to get a public facing job if you aren't fluent in Spanish.

              And what percent the Cuban population is that?

              Are you aware Cuba's official population went down from 2023-24?

      • Why would the US take them. They are resource poor and bring no assets besides people, of which the US has plenty. They would be an economic drain.

        You are unaware of the "Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966"? Cuban refugees have special status. It's legacy of the cold war.

        For years all Cuban refugees were accepted into the US, no questions. There was a "readjustment" of the act in 2017 (part of the efforts to normalize political relations with Cuba), but Cuban refugees still have a preferred status on admission to the US.

        • Yeah, but it turned out that a significant number of those "oppressed" Cubans turned out to be gangsters. After the mass-migrations of the 1980s under Ronald Reagan, they started brutal crime waves across Florida & hooked up with the more established Mafia families elsewhere in the USA.

          Hasn't Netflix recently released a glamorised, sensationalist account of one of those brutal Marielito gangs called "Griselda"? There's been plenty of other films & TV series about that period of mass migration fro

          • Netflix? Fuck Netflix. There's a much better known movie that tells that story from the 80s.

            "Say hello to my little friend! Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!"

      • Why would the US take them. They are resource poor and bring no assets besides people, of which the US has plenty. They would be an economic drain.

        The US already made that decision, soon after acquiring Cuba from Spain after the War of 1898. We kept Puerto Rico and for a while Philippines, but we decided to cut Cuba loose . The one asset be retained was a lease on a 75 sq mile tract of land "for the defense of the Panama Canal." We know that as Guantánamo today.

    • In a few more years most of the formerly Cuban population will be living in the United states, might as well join the US entirely then.

      It went so well for puerto rico....

      The will probably go at it alone, but under a more efficent non-communist govt. Or so they hope.

      I live in venezuela, and have a few cuban friends, both emigrants, as well as professionals temporarily here by bilateral agreements in the health sector... and that seems to be the prevalent opinion.

  • The Miami Herald is not a reliable source for stories on Cuba. Cuba has been under sanctions by the United States, its closest neighbor, since 1960. They are still driving 1950's vintage cars. Whatever the problems, it is their refusal to give in to the United States that is the ultimate source. Blaming the government of Cuba is like blaming the government of Ukraine for the damage done by Russia.

    • There're no similarities between Cuba/United States and Ukraine/Russia.

      • Both Cuba and Ukraine overthrew a government friendly to a powerful neighbor

        Both were invaded by that powerful neighbor, albeit Russia has been more successful

        Both have a portion of their territory occupied by their powerful neighbor

        Both became clients for their powerful neighbors opponents

        Both of their powerful neighbors have threatened a nuclear war over their arming

        Both believe they are victims of their neighbor's colonial ambitions.

        Both are suffering power blackouts

        Of course their are differences.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 )
      There is no doubt that the embargo has had a massive impact on the Cuban economy when it was instituted. But it's not like the USA is the only source of goods for them; they have received a great deal of economic aid from the USSR / Russia, and have done trading with European countries, Japan, and Latin American countries. You can't really claim that the embargo is the biggest factor in keeping their economy in the doldrums. It's their refusal to modernize their economy keeping them down.

      • Cuba is a top vacation spot for Canada.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Of course you can blame the embargo. Any major company that would go there to invest or do anything would be sanctioned by the US government. It's pretty laughable that people think the embargo just means no trade between the US and Cuba.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        There is no doubt that the embargo has had a massive impact on the Cuban economy when it was instituted. But it's not like the USA is the only source of goods for them; they have received a great deal of economic aid from the USSR / Russia..

        The irony of you talking about all that great “economic aid” they’re getting, while referring to their help by both their former failed namesake and their current one, tends to speak volumes as to how inaccurate your statement is.

        Russia is struggling to take care of itself. Likely all the more reason Cuba is struggling severely. Embargoes are nothing compared to the crushing effect of Communism.

      • The embargo is certainly not the only factor, but it has indirect as well as direct effects. It pushed Cuba towards the USSR, and the dependency on subsidised sugar trade which lasted until the Special Economic Period in Peacetime. And it gave and continues to give Cuban politicians an excuse for all of the economic woes. Without the embargo Cuba might have had much bigger economic and political reforms over the past 65 years.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by ichthus ( 72442 )

      Cuba has been under sanctions by the United States, its closest neighbor, since 1960. They are still driving 1950's vintage cars.

      So... why don't they build their own damn cars? I mean, it's been since the 70's that communism was the only party permitted to function in Cuba, ridding them of that nasty capitalism that would stand in the way of progress (aka moving "forward"). They ought to be self sufficient by now. Or, maybe they could depend on the other successful communist countries of the world for t

      • If they asked, I'm sure North Korea and Venezuela would give the Cubans a hand and show them how to run a healthy economy.

        • Part of the problem is that Cuba was relying on Venezuela for their energy needs, but their own collapse has now led to problems in Cuba. This is hardly anything new, but a large number of socialist/communist states have collapsed because the other socialist/communist states they relied on or that were propping them up collapsed themselves.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Lehk228 ( 705449 )
      >communists when capitalists will not, in fact, sell them the rope.

    • The USA should work for normalizing the relations with Cuba, and not waste any time. Because China will gladly take their place.

      Normalizing relations with Vietnam was a very good move. It's arguably the only reason why Vietnam is not a Chinese puppet right now (well, and historic issues between China and Vietnam too, but it's secondary).

      • Vietnam is not a Chinese puppet because they don't put up with outsider bullshit from anyone and China got their ass handed to them hard when they tried to invade in 1979.

        I visited the Vietnamese museum they dedicated to the US/Vietnam war. The signage was all in English, btw. It amused me how the signs talked about the People's Great Victory over the Western Imperialists. Still in that mindset 40+ years later. China never stood a chance.

  • The summary manages to tell us about Cuba's problems, without a mention to the elephant in the room: The US embargo.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by ichthus ( 72442 )
      Why should that matter? Communism should be able to stand on its own two feet, no?

      Maybe the other communist countries could come to Cuba's rescue. The Soviet Union, or East Germany? Ok, I'm obviously joking there. Surely, North Korea will swoop in and affect the necessary repairs to get their comrades back up and running, though.

      • Cuba wants to join BRICS. It's not clear if BRICS will let them in, though.

      • Why should that matter? Communism should be able to stand on its own two feet, no?

        Maybe the other communist countries could come to Cuba's rescue. The Soviet Union, or East Germany? Ok, I'm obviously joking there. Surely, North Korea will swoop in and affect the necessary repairs to get their comrades back up and running, though.

        The rest of the world vacations in Cuba. The main thing hurting Cuba is not being able to sell their main export (sugar) to the USA. Hell, Texas has serious power grid problems and nearly had a complete failure https://www.usatoday.com/story... [usatoday.com]

        The bottom line with Texas is the power companies won't spend the money to properly winterize their plants. The regulatory body who oversees these plants is headed by cronies and is toothless by design. They can only recommend grid improvements, not mandate them.

  • Cuba "burns crude oil as a fuel" to generate electricity, and it all has to be imported. Could they have built solar farms and wind? Sure. Does their failure to do that have anything to do with the US embargo? No.

    • Cuba "burns crude oil as a fuel" to generate electricity, and it all has to be imported. Could they have built solar farms and wind? Sure. Does their failure to do that have anything to do with the US embargo? No.

      Wind and solar are not practical in an island state ravaged by hurricanes. Tides and geothermal for the win!

      Also, they had (in cooperation with Venezuela) a plan to expand and modernize the "refineria cienfuegos", but more than 1 milliard U$D got lost on the road. If the project had completed, instead of burning crude, they could have burnty the less desireable refined product instead, and export the desirable ones for more U$D to keep the infrastructure running.

      They have hydro, but most of the 162 plants a

      • >> Wind and solar are not practical in an island state ravaged by hurricanes

        Yeah they are. And burning imported oil to generate electricity is incredibly foolish.

        • And burning imported oil to generate electricity is incredibly corrupt, and therefore expected.

          FTFY. In case anyone else was thinking the same “wait, they’re STILL doing THAT stupi..but fucking WHY?!?” shit.

          Communism. Can’t fault the consistency, even if you can fault everything else.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by sxpert ( 139117 )

            funny that, importing crude oil from Saudi Arabia, an incredibly corrupt regime that was, for a very long time, subservient to the US, is what the US have been doing for that same long time... go figure

            • >> importing crude oil from Saudi Arabia

              Actually, as the article clearly stated, they were importing oil from "Venezuela, Russia and Mexico".

      • Cuba "burns crude oil as a fuel" to generate electricity, and it all has to be imported. Could they have built solar farms and wind? Sure. Does their failure to do that have anything to do with the US embargo? No.

        Wind and solar are not practical in an island state ravaged by hurricanes.

        *looks at Florida*

        Hey uh, you DO know there’s 987 million metric fucktons of solar panels down in the Sunshine State, 90 miles north of there, right?

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by sxpert ( 139117 )

          they could have, just like Haiti. pumped the crude oil from the gulf... but the US makes sure that those 2 countries can't do shit with illegal sanctions on the first and fomenting revolutions every now and then in the second as soon as someone that is not subservient to US interest shows up to control it

        • Cuba "burns crude oil as a fuel" to generate electricity, and it all has to be imported. Could they have built solar farms and wind? Sure. Does their failure to do that have anything to do with the US embargo? No.

          Wind and solar are not practical in an island state ravaged by hurricanes.

          *looks at Florida*

          Hey uh, you DO know there’s 987 million metric fucktons of solar panels down in the Sunshine State, 90 miles north of there, right?

          One main difference. Florida is not an Island, and is connected to the rest of the US grid.

          Aside from Wind and solar, florida, also has nuclear:

          https://mynews13.com/fl/orland... [mynews13.com]

          Finally, take a look on what happens to solar in extreme weather:

          https://www.pv-magazine.com/20... [pv-magazine.com]

          Wind and solar are cool and all in places where the weather is moderate, or places that have other things in their energy mix that can whitstand the extreme weather, or that are big enough to have the damage spread around. Cuba does not

          • Finally, take a look on what happens to solar in extreme weather:

            https://www.pv-magazine.com/20 [pv-magazine.com]... [pv-magazine.com]

            Wind and solar are cool and all in places where the weather is moderate, or places that have other things in their energy mix that can whitstand the extreme weather, or that are big enough to have the damage spread around. Cuba does not comply with any of those.

            So a solar farm was partially damaged when it took a DIRECT hit from both a hurricane and a tornado? I guess we can't build solar. Power lines are regularly downed by milder wind events than that so I guess we can't have power lines either. Tornadoes also regularly destroy homes when they directly hit them so no houses allowed in Florida or anywhere in tornado alley, who's going to let the residents know?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by burni2 ( 1643061 )

        You make it look like storms devastate each and everything to the ground in Cuba, which is not true.

        However yes solar would need to be build with much more sturdy structures, but already in contrast wind turbines designed for such areas (also South-China, Japan and so on) will withstand storms quite well - with a few damages, but these would also happen to every other structure.

        There is virtually no country other than Island that uses geothermal extensively and "tides" well simply spoken, and its good that

      • Wind and solar are not practical in an island state ravaged by hurricanes.

        Don't make things up [wikipedia.org].

  • Watching Americans enjoy this, while California and friends cans provide enough power.

    Priceless.

  • lack of infrastructure, demand growth, jungle over growth and resource intensive maintenance conspire to cripple delivery of electricity. Burdened by low-wage earner incomes, stolen electricity and no-growth industrial base electric suppliers are strapped to past technology and distribution systems.

    Server farms could be an opportunity were the avg. temp 86F not a roadblock. Panama has 800+ rivers but nary a hydro-electric generator due to the fact that those rivers flood during wet season. Solar is abundant

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