Cuba awaits Hurricane Oscar amid blackouts due to energy crisis – Grupo Milenio

He Cuban government suspended all “non-essential” state activities, including schools, until Wednesday massive blackout suffered by the island and the imminent arrival of Hurricane Oscar to its northeastern end.

The Cuban Executive reported the measure in a note and means the extension of what was announced on Thursday to Friday worsening of the energy crisis.

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“Given the imminent passage of Hurricane Oscar through our country and the recovery period following this, as well as the work being undertaken to restore the national electrical system, it has been decided to suspend non-essential administrative activities and teaching activities, on the days Monday, October 21, Tuesday, October 22, and Wednesday, October 23,” the statement said.

The Cuban government added that the vital services for the populationincluding hospitals.

The workers mobilized under these circumstances will receive “the payment of their average salary” and those who do not attend work due to this suspension will receive “the payment of a salary guarantee equivalent to the scale salary of the position they occupy,” the note explained.

Last Friday, Cuba paralyzed all non-essential state work activity and classes at all levels of education as part of the measures announced to tackle the energy crisis.

That same Friday, the National Electroenergy System (SEN) suffered a complete collapse, leaving the country in a total blackout from which it is just beginning to emerge this Sunday. more than 48 hours laterand in a very limited and gradual way.

Added to this is the proximity of the hurricane oscarwhich is scheduled to make landfall this afternoon in the provinces of Guantánamo and Holguín (far east), according to reports from the Institute of Meteorology (Insmet). The authorities have cyclonic alert decreed for the region.

Millions of Cubans woke up Sunday without electricity in their homes after another partial network failure during Saturday nightwhich deepened the energy crisis that has left concerns about restoring public service.

The country’s top electricity official, Lázaro Guerra, confirmed a partial grid collapse in Cuba’s western provinces late Saturday and said technicians were working to solve the problem.

Guerra did not provide a timeline for when power would be restored to the region, which includes Havana with almost two million residents who were without power early Sunday.

The state-owned digital news outlet CubaDebate reported that the country’s largest power plant, Antonio Guiteras, returned to work on Sunday and would begin to contribute to the restoration of service during the day.

A third power grid failure late Saturday dealt a setback to the government’s efforts to quickly restore power to exhausted residents already suffering from a severe shortages of food, medicine and fuel.

Time continues to pass while the hurricane oscar was approaching northeastern Cuba early Sunday, threatening to further complicate the government’s plans to restore power supply.

The Cuban meteorological service warned of an “extremely dangerous situation” in eastern Cuba. The region was practically no electricity or communications before the storm, which at mid-morning on Sunday had winds of up to 160 kilometers per hour.

Cuba’s national power grid collapsed for the first time around noon on Friday after A failure in the largest power plant on the island will close. The network crashed again on Saturday morning, state media reported.

Progress in recovery work:

Early Saturday afternoon, authorities reported some progress in restoring power before announcing another partial collapse.

“The process of restoring the electrical system continues to be complex,” said the Cuban Ministry of Energy in X.

Increase in tensions

Journalists from Reuters witnessed two small protests during the night after a failure in the electrical grid that left Havana in the dark, one on the outskirts of the capital in Marianao and the other in the more central Cuatro Caminos.

The traffic of Internet fell drastically in Cuba on Saturday, according to data from the Internet monitoring group NetBlocksas major power outages made it nearly impossible for most island residents to charge phones and connect to the Internet.

“Network data shows that Cuba remains largely offline as the island experiences a second nationwide power outage,” he said. Netblocks on Saturday.

Cuba also blames United States trade embargoas well as the sanctions instituted by then-President Donald Trump, due to the constant difficulties in acquiring fuel and spare parts to operate and maintain its oil plants.

United States has denied any role in network failures.

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