Cuban authorities have reported this Friday a new widespread power outage across the entire country, the second registered in just a few days after the one last Monday, and have indicated that the planned protocols to begin service recovery have already been implemented. With this incident, there have been four nationwide blackouts so far this year.
The grid operator and the Ministry of Energy of Cuba have confirmed that the electrical system has collapsed again at the state level for the second time in the same week. The origin of the problem lies in a failure in the 220 kV line connecting Villa Clara and Sancti Spíritus, which occurred at 3:55 PM and led to the complete collapse of the system in about 35 minutes.
"There has been a total disconnection of the Electrical System," the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Cuba communicated through a brief note disseminated on social media.
The minister of the sector, Vicente de la O Levy, has described the scenario as "complex," although he has stressed that work is already underway to restore the National Electric System (SEN) and has expressed his support for the "dignified and committed" workers who "fight every day with the blackout."
"Nobody gives up here!" the head of Energy remarked, in a message of encouragement to the population, which had already suffered another total interruption of supply on Monday.
After the activation of contingency plans, efforts have been concentrated on the phased restoration of service, prioritizing the country's "vital centers."
Thus, hospitals such as those in Ciego de Ávila and Morón are among the first to receive electricity thanks to a "microsystem created with the fuel oil generation engines at the Morón, Ceballos, and Ciego Norte sites, belonging to the Fuel Group Generation and Maintenance Company (EMGEF)," as detailed by Unión Eléctrica de Cuba a couple of hours after the blackout.
The Havana Electric Company has communicated to the public that energy has already been restored in 14 substations and 42 distribution circuits, which means the normalization of supply for 126,710 users, 14.7% of the total. Likewise, service has been recovered in 32 hospitals.
Chain of failures in the Cuban electrical system
Cuba already suffered two blackouts in March that left the entire island without power, to which is added another total system disconnection recorded on September 10.
The Cuban government attributes these problems to the energy blockade by the United States, which in January warned of imposing tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to the island.
In this context, President Miguel Díaz-Canel has held Washington responsible for trying to "induce a social outbreak by asphyxiation" in the country by "blocking access to fuel to Cuba." "What the electrical workers are doing in the midst of a genocidal energy blockade is heroic," the president has defended.
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz has even gone so far as to question whether Cuba is not facing "genocide." "Today the peoples have once again raised their voice for Cuba. And just when the world has condemned the blockade and the energy siege against our country by a large majority, we have suffered two disconnections from the SEN. Are we not facing genocide?" he pointed out in a message disseminated on social networks on Friday night.
Marrero was thus alluding to the vote on July 7 in the UN General Assembly, in which 136 countries supported holding a debate on the US embargo against Cuba.