The capital of Cuba woke up on Wednesday with a new power outage, the third in almost two months. Despite the apparent normalcy, schools and state sectors were closed. Small businesses and street vendors were operating as usual, but the fatigue among the population is evident.
Roque Lazo from Alba accuses the previous Republican government led by Donald Trump as the main responsible for the current situation in Cuba. Trump’s administration adopted a series of measures to pressure Cuba, including attempts to block fuel supplies to the country, directly impacting the electricity sector.
Since 2018, and especially in 2019 and 2020 during the pandemic, Trump tried by all means to prevent fuel from reaching Cuba, even illegally sanctioning ships transporting oil to the country. The impact of sanctions on Venezuela, a major fuel supplier to Cuba, also worsened the energy crisis.
The energy shortage has been a constant struggle, aggravated by hurricanes and affecting the daily lives of the population, especially the youth. The situation has led to a sense of exhaustion and anger among the people, raising concerns about potential protests and social unrest in the country.