By Francisco Acevedo
HAVANA TIMES – The critical energy situation in Cuba has intensified power outages in recent weeks, resulting in protests in various parts of the country.
The shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant in Matanzas, the largest in the country, caused power cuts even in the capital, where the Communist Party of Cuba is doing everything possible to prevent them due to the potential danger of a genuine popular uprising.
It was a couple of tense weeks during which Havana suffered minor disruptions, nothing compared to most of the Cuban population, which still lacks electricity for more than 12 hours every day, while in the city, the maximum was six hours during those 15 days, and never consecutive.
Alongside the protests, the streets dawned with signs demanding Freedom. However, they were immediately erased as for that there was fuel, paint, and all the necessary forces from the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), the Armed Forces (FAR), or State Security.
Graffiti on a wall is considered by the powers that be more serious than solving the problem of bread production, nonexistent outside of Havana throughout this month, or the eternal garbage dump in front of that same wall. They can reach there, but they seem uninterested in the threat of diseases; to them, the message on the wall is more dangerous.
The last straw was when the Electric Company of Mayabeque reported on its official networks that it couldn’t restore electricity service in the municipality of Santa Cruz del Norte “due to transportation problems.” The surreal explanation itself would have been enough to keep it as a souvenir, but it’s another example that the priority is not to improve the standard of living in Cuba, but to sustain the power elite at all costs.
Let’s remember that during the December session of the Parliament, Alejandro Gil, former Minister of Economy and Planning, acknowledged that it wouldn’t be possible to achieve t