Millions of Cubans are currently without electricity following a prolonged outage at the island's main power plants. Reports indicate that a malfunction at the Antonio Guiteras Power Plant in Matanzas on Friday left most of Cuba in darkness. Authorities have announced that, after intense efforts, electricity has begun to be restored in some areas, including the capital, Havana. However, approximately 80% of the country remains without power, with some regions experiencing outages lasting more than 30 hours. Images on social media depict José Martí International Airport in Havana enveloped in darkness during the outage. Energy officials, led by President Miguel Diaz-Canel, are convening to evaluate measures to address the widespread outages. Cuba often faces electricity shortages due to problems at its power plants, which are largely attributed to inadequate maintenance of facilities built over 40 years ago by the Soviet Union. The Ministry of Energy and Mines reports that the country consumes 8 million tons of fuel annually, with only 3 million tons sourced from domestic production. Economic embargoes have forced Cuba to rely heavily on Venezuela, Russia, and Mexico for its energy needs. In recent years, the Cuban government has begun leasing floating power plants to mitigate outages and enhance production capacity. Diaz-Canel stated on X that efforts to resolve the electricity shortages will continue unabated until the situation improves. — Agencies
