Cuba’s biggest blackout in at least two years left millions without power and prompted the government to announce emergency measures

Cuba’s biggest blackout in at least two years left millions without power and prompted the government to announce emergency measures

Millions of Cubans were plunged into total darkness as they faced a country-wide blackout after a power plant failed, causing the nation’s electrical grid to disconnect.

Government officials, who had warned about ongoing blackouts in recent days, implemented emergency measures such as suspending classes, shutting down some state-owned workplaces and canceling non-essential services

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz said in an address on Thursday evening that the government had been “paralyzing” the economy in recent weeks in an attempt to continue providing electricity to citizens.

For weeks, Cuba has suffered a fuel shortage which has impacted the ability to run the power grid. Parts of the country have had no power for 12 hours a day. When power is turned on, demand increases putting a strain on the weak infrastructure.

That is, in part, due to an economic crisis and weather-related problems which have made imports difficult to obtain.

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    447·
    17 days ago

    It is also in part due to 60 years of bullshit ass embargoes.

    If they hadn’t been denied trade for six decades, maybe their systems would be more modern and robust.

      • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
        8·
        17 days ago

        China is pretty far away from Cuba, so even if they can it’s not a natural primary trade partner. With the globalization of trade, it could maybe be fine for some things, but not things that you need suddenly.

        Also, any ships stopping at Cuba can’t go to the US for 180 days, so if a vessel carrying goods from China stops at Cuba it can’t also stop at the US, which is a slightly larger economy.

        • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.caEnglish
          1·
          16 days ago

          I was more thinking in the context of belt and road. Throw some solar and wind on the islands.

      • rc__buggy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1513·
        17 days ago

        Naw, all that is still good to go.

        Their real problem is dependence on Venezuela for fuel and since Maduro has fucked up that economy so completely they aren’t getting the oil they need. Doesn’t stop Cuba from blaming the embargoes though, I guess some people still believe it.

        I mean, maybe they can’t pay for enough oil because they are broke but I’d think that Venezuela has enough problems they can’t help out with a socialist solidarity deal like Chavez used to give them.

        • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
          51·
          17 days ago

          I went to Cuba last year, it’s pretty messed up there. The currency is a mess. Doctors make $35 per month. Cab drivers that carry tourists make more than $20 for a trip to the airport. There’s a huge black market for currency there since the government keeps coming up with crazy monetary schemes which obviously don’t work.

          The government buildings are pristine, nicer than those you’d see in any developed country, but the people live in poverty.

          It’s a last days of the Soviet Union kind of thing happening there. Their system is broken, the country could collapse any day.

        • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          2·
          17 days ago

          I guess the years they have been under embargoes and unable to import means its their own fault they didn’t spend that time diversifying their electrical grid into solar and wind? When their lack of ability to import impacted their ability to get a hold of those kind of things easily?

          The point is they would be a lot farther along with such efforts if they hadn’t been prevented from trading with half the world for over half a century.

          But sure, because they haven’t spun up modern infrastructure when they can’t trade with half the world is their fault, and not because they have limited means and places from which to get the material and tools for such infrastructure.

          • rc__buggy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            2·
            17 days ago

            The Castro’s fault? Absolutely.

            My solar panels came from China, theirs can too. Cuba doesn’t have a single West German engineered power plant, those parts don’t come from modern Germany.

            Embargoes (and especially the terrorist definition) are a big stumbling block but don’t act like corruption and terrible mismanagement aren’t the bulk of modern Cuba’s problems.

            • Miaou@jlai.luEnglish
              31·
              17 days ago

              Then why are the sanctions still in place? If the US stopped pirating maybe we would be able to tell bow shitty the government is. But all anyone can see here is a cruel government getting off oppressing smaller nations. It’s not even about political blackmail, given how Puerto Rico and Hawaii are treated, only gratuitous violence.

              • rc__buggy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                2·
                17 days ago

                I disagree with the sanctions. Hell, we trade with worse regimes every day. Lifting the sanctions would help the residents of Cuba immensely. The “sticking point” of the nationalized property back in '59 should be moot. It’s not about making property owners whole at this point, it’s about helping the people of Cuba. That is non-negotiable for the expats though.

  • NOT_RICK@lemmy.worldEnglish
    23·
    17 days ago

    This has made me curious to see what the US State department claimed requisites for lifting sanctions are:

    The United States has set specific conditions for lifting sanctions against Cuba, primarily outlined in the Helms-Burton Act. These include legalizing political activities, releasing political prisoners, committing to free and fair elections, granting press freedom, respecting human rights, and allowing labor unions.

    Now, it’s debatable if that’s actually the case or just the State Department hiding a retaliatory policy behind rhetoric, but I don’t take issue with any of those, personally.

    • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.worldEnglish
      231·
      17 days ago

      The actual issue is that all the rich people under the corrupt Batista government, which was basically a U.S. puppet government, got their shit confiscated when they fled to Florida. The U.S. has never cared about democracy and human rights but we definitely didn’t back then.

      If you need evidence, the “Helms-Burton Act” sponsors were scum. Here is part of the opening to the Wikipedia article for Sen. Helms:

      On domestic social issues, Helms opposed civil rights, disability rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, affirmative action, access to abortions, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

      And Rep. Burton was corrupt as fuck. He’s still alive if anyone in Indiana wants to find his house and shit on his porch.

    • IninewCrow@lemmy.caEnglish
      195·
      17 days ago

      committing to free and fair elections, granting press freedom, respecting human rights, and allowing labor unions.

      pretty rich for a country that is actively trying to disregard or degrade these very same demands

    • yogurt@lemm.eeEnglish
      11·
      17 days ago

      Leaves out the one catastrophic demand that the US actually cares about

      (D) taking appropriate steps to return to United States citizens (and entities which are 50 percent or more beneficially owned by United States citizens) property taken by the Cuban Government from such citizens and entities on or after January 1, 1959, or to provide equitable compensation to such citizens and entities for such property;

      “At the beginning of 1959 United States companies owned about 40 percent of the Cuban sugar lands - almost all the cattle ranches - 90 percent of the mines and mineral concessions - 80 percent of the utilities - and practically all the oil industry - and supplied two-thirds of Cuba’s imports. … The symbol of this shortsighted attitude is now on display in a Havana museum. It is a solid gold telephone presented to Batista by the American-owned Cuban telephone company.” - JFK

    • pandapoo@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      5·
      17 days ago

      That is for all intents and purposes, horseshit.

      Replace all of those words with “the Florida Cuban vote, octogenarian government, and bureaucratic inertia” and you would be exponentially closer to the truth of the matter.

      And before you say, or think, that is reductive or flippant, that doesn’t mean it’s not a more accurate representation of the actual political obstacles regarding US Cuban policy.