One Friday that Cuba went dark

The so-called National Electroenergetic System (SEN) failed again about four more times during the weekend. Four hours, 20 hours, 40 hours, 60+ hours and counting. Localities with uninterrupted blackouts of up to 80 hours were reported throughout the island

Jessica Toirac Matos, a resident of the Baracoa municipality, in the Guantánamo province, did not have for five days straight. This eastern area of the island also suffered the impact of Category 1 Hurricane Oscar, just two days after the national blackout.

“The blackout is still being experienced here in the Baracoa municipality because a cyclone also has passed here. Since Friday (October 18) there has been a general blackout. Before that, when they turned the power back on, they only provided four hours of electricity and then turned the system off again.”
“Currently, the food is almost spoiled. They have not provided anything to us and the Government has not sold anything. Everything must be purchased on the street and it is very expensive,” added Toirac Matos.
“I was without power for 48 hours straight,” explained the independent journalist and former political prisoner, Carlos Michael Morales, who resides in the Caibarién municipality, in the Villa Clara province, located in the center of the country.
“Thousands of people in this province have been left without food because electricity is the main fuel for cooking. Additionally, some food such as meat has spoiled and turned into pig food. This is a tough situation because meat in Cuba is extremely expensive. My neighborhood has experienced this situation and it has been a total nightmare. Another fact is that you simply cannot sleep due to the scorching heat; plus, having a lot of mosquitoes makes it impossible to sleep at night” Morales declared.

The situation over the weekend became unsustainable because due to the lack of power, other things occurred: water cut offs and rotten food.

On top of that, there’s the economic problem. Since October 17, one day before the national blackout, the Cuban regime announced several impact measures that will put the country on an indefinite hold. Only vital centers will remain in service, such as hospitals and those places used for food production. All school classes were suspended until October 27, as well as cultural and leisure activities. Only 'essential' personnel will remain at office.

From the city of Cienfuegos, Ana* said that living without power for many hours has become something normal. “There are always blackouts where I live because the power is out daily. We are practically adapted to living without power nowadays.”

In his home there was an initial outage of 18 hours straight, two hours for restoring and another outage again. “This is how we live now,” he explained, with an average of three hours of electricity per day.

Now, regarding the imminent loss of food, Ana* said that “most people have had to boil meat and then eat it. “Refrigerators are not able to freeze or cool products.”

“The province of Cienfuegos seems to be kind of adapted to living without electricity. We have been experiencing along for almost a year and the deficit quota is increasing day by day,” added the Cuban.

A THREAT THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN EXPERIENCED BEFORE

Shielded under a military uniform, the designated president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, launched several threats against people who march in the streets because of this situation.

"We are not going to accept nor are we going to allow anyone to cause vandalism or to alter the peace of our people. This is a conviction and a principle of our revolution," declared the president in a special appearance on December 20.

Furthermore, he called those 'drunks' and once again threatened them: "We are not going to allow them to alter public order."

To support the president, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, also acknowledged that 'minimal incidents' have occurred because of the massive blackout.

In a press conference with international media, De la O described the protests that had taken place as 'indecent' and referred to the people who participated as "cowards who do not reason and sell out."

Threats are also present in every block and avenue of the country's main cities. There are reports of strong militarization in Santiago de Cuba, Santa Clara, Camaguey and Cienfuegos, among others. A source confirmed that there are orders coming from the high command to 'mobilize' soldiers and other law enforcement agents to repress people, in case 'it is necessary'.

EL CACEROLAZO AND THE STREET AS A RESPONSE TO THE BLACKOUT

Despite the veiled threats and the strong militarization on the island, citizens held protests in the streets and banged pots and pans from their homes. The strongest demonstrations, as were expected, took place in Havana.

“Freedom, freedom,” was heard over the sound of cazuelas in Centro Habana, a quite populous neighborhood of the capital.

“Díaz-Canel singao”, a popular phrase rejecting the president, also echoed loudly in the San Leopoldo neighborhood of Havana.

In the Manicaragua municipality, located in Villa Clara province, dozens of people took to the streets and protested in front of the municipal government, which of course had electricity. Between October 18 and 21, the organization Justicia 11J underreported around 43 popular protests.

“We defend the right to protest that demands the restoration of energy service amid this aggravated crisis, as well as the right of citizens to demand at all times that the State respects their rights, whether social, economic, cultural, civil or political. “We condemn the recent statements by President Miguel Díaz Canel, which criminalizes peaceful protesters who, despite all the real fear of repression, have taken to the streets with no weapons other than their slogans,” the independent organization said.

They also asked the international community “to provide timely follow-up to the events occurring in the Island, both those of protests and repression by the state authorities, since we all fear that, if the electrical service is not restored promptly, the massive protests will have no other option but to continue and, because of that, arbitrary arrests of protesters will not stop. At the same time, we request the support of civil society and citizens, to identify all the people who may already be victims of any type of reprisals, in relation to the events of recent days."

At the end of October 22, five days after the national blackout, according to official government data, 70% of the population had electricity. However, blackouts continue to be quite prolonged in much of the country’s territory, especially in rural areas.