Cuba was hit with a major electricity blackout at 11:00 am on the morning of Oct. 18, when the Antonio Guiteres thermoelectric power plant in Matanzas, east of Havana, went offline—engulfing the entire island of 10 million people in darkness. The Matanzas failure came after Prime Minister Manuel Marrero announced on a major TV address the previous night that it would be necessary to shut down most of the economy, except for essential services, hospitals and clinics, due to the lack of gasoline to operate the nation’s power grid. The government estimated that repairs to the Matanzas plant would take two days.
The reduction in fuel imports from regular suppliers, particularly Venezuela (Russia and Mexico are still reliable suppliers), has led to blackouts of up to 15-20 hours at a time for more than a year. Cubans have suffered economic dislocation and disruption which also include food shortages and strict rationing due to the declining agricultural sector and inability to import food due to the lack of dollars. In March of this year, Cuba asked the World Food Program for assistance in providing subsidized powdered milk for young children, the first time it has ever requested help from that UN agency. Larger numbers of Cubans have left the country in recent years to try to reach the U.S. because of living conditions.
