Americas

Cuba turns off some public lighting as energy crisis worsens

Havana government seeks help from World Food Programme to guarantee supply of subsidised powdered milk for children

A man fills the tank of his car at a petrol station in Havana amid a growing energy shortage in Cuba. Photograph: AFP via Getty Images

Tue Mar 5 2024 - 20:34

Cuba has switched off nearly three-quarters of public lighting during peak hours to cope with a growing energy shortage, state media reported on Tuesday, as hopes to reverse a deepening economic crisis dim.

The blackouts, which disrupt daily life and the economy, have plagued the communist-run country for several years but have worsened in recent months due to a lack of fuel and the need to maintain decrepit infrastructure.

Minister of energy and mines Vicente de la O Levy told a council of ministers meeting the measure was one of many that included shuttering thousands of state services and shifting production to lessen the blackouts roiling the country, according to state media.

The import-dependent country has been mired in a deepening economic crisis that has seen gross domestic product decline 10 per cent since 2019.

READ MORE

The government largely blames Trump-era US sanctions targeting foreign currency earners tourism, medical services and remittances, compounded by the pandemic, rising shipping costs and faltering efforts to restructure a centralised and state dominated economy.

The shortage of foreign exchange to import food, medicine, fuel and other essentials appears to have worsened so far this year, official figures showed.

Mr De la O Levy said last month that Cuba had received only 46 per cent of the planned fuel imports, causing long blackouts across the land, with the exception of the capital Havana.

A phone survey of five of 14 provinces indicated residents were enduring daily six- to 12-hour blackouts, broken up into two tranches.

Yurkina Gracial, a 40-year-old state employee in eastern-most Guantanamo province said by phone “the power goes out for four hours twice a day and it is unbearable because of the heat”.

At the other end of the Caribbean island, in Pinar del Rio province, restaurant owner Jaime Carrillo said power outages were running up to eight hours per day.

“Blackouts always complicate your daily work,” he said. “For example, liquids and meats suffer from defrosting in refrigerators.”

Cuba on Monday confirmed it had sought help from the World Food Programme to guarantee the supply of subsidised powdered milk for children, according to a report in state-run media.

Cuba first announced in February that it was struggling to shore up milk supply as domestic production falters, the latest shortage to strain a decades-old subsidies scheme created by the late Fidel Castro.

“Cuba requested [World Food Programme] assistance for the purchase of powdered milk in order to guarantee supply to Cuban boys and girls,” state-run media outlet CubaDebate reported.

A ship carrying 340 tonnes of powdered milk was set to arrive in the coming days from Brazil as a result of Cuba`s request to the WFP, the news site CubaDebate said.

Cuban officials said in February the country had also run short of wheat, forcing it to cut the supply of subsidised bread.

Both bread and milk for children are key components of Cuba`s “rationbook” system introduced after Castro’s 1959 revolution to provide subsidised staples for all.

The system however has fallen into disarray as economic crisis handicaps the government’s ability to make good on its commitments, prompting shortages in food, fuel and medicine. – Reuters

LATEST STORIES