Officials in Cuba have issued a warning that the number of blackouts on the island would drastically increase as a result of a lack of fuel. This could make the situation much more dire for the country, which is already suffering from a lack of food and medication.
Local governments have already begun imposing restrictions on power usage at state-run firms and other institutions, including attempts to postpone athletic events and university classes as a result of the power shortage.
“We are not going to have the level of fuel we need or what we had in previous months,” the minister of energy and mining, Vicente de la O Levy, said during a national television broadcast late on Wednesday night, alongside the minister of economy in the country.
Outside of Havana, inhabitants are typically spared from power outages; nonetheless, the officials stated that locals should expect blackouts for up to eight to ten hours each day outside of the capital city. They predicted that the power disruptions would start in October.
Since the outbreak, the island, which is governed by communists, has been embroiled in difficulty and has been plagued by blackouts as well as shortages of food, medication, and gasoline. According to the government, the level of gross domestic product is 8% below what it will be in 2020, and the level of goods production is 40% below what it will be.
Cuba claims that sanctions imposed by the United States are mostly to blame for the current crisis, as they have prevented the country from earning enough foreign currency to import the majority of its petroleum, food, and other goods. According to the claims made by Washington, the Communist party is to blame for Cuba’s problems, and the sanctions are intended to restore democracy and respect for human rights.
Cuba has been dependent on Venezuelan oil supplies for many years, but imports had been slowly decreasing due to corruption and inefficiency in Venezuela, the country from whence the supplies originated.
On Wednesday, Cuban officials stated that the country was making daily efforts to get fuel in order to keep the country operating. However, they did not provide an explanation as to why the situation had become even more dire.
The dismal circumstances in which Cubans find themselves have generated a number of uprisings, including a statewide uprising in July 2021 that was the largest movement of its kind since the revolution led by Fidel Castro, who has since passed away. During the course of the last two years, hundreds of thousands of individuals have emigrated from the country, most of them to the United States.
