Havana’s “Solidarity Blackouts”
By Xel2 (El Toque)
HAVANA TIMES – This week we have drawn on what officialdom is calling “solidarity blackouts.”
The new fashionable term arises because of a news item from the newspaper Tribuna de La Habana. In this the decision was announced to program four-hour blackouts in the capital, during the day and every three days, as a “gesture of solidarity” with the rest of the provinces of Cuba.
The headline of the news article was short-lived due to the ridicule of thousands of users on social networks – they changed it after a few hours – but the screenshots were already made. The new gaffe of the official press circulates from phone to phone generating the same number of debates and memes.
However, the term was not invented by journalists. “Solidarity and empathy” were the exact words used by the Governor of Havana and the head of the Communist Party, to explain “the cause” of these power cuts.
Until now, Havana had largely escaped the long annoying blackouts taking place in the rest of the country, caused by the unfortunate conditions of the National Electric Power Grid.
Far from improving the situation and finding a solution to the power outages, now they seem to normalize and become part of the routine of ordinary Cubans.
It remains to be seen if the “solidarity” of Havana really allows some improvement to the other provinces or if it is just another story on the way to put the average citizen to sleep.
Greetings and happy Sunday,
Wimar Verdecia Fuentes
