Lack of Electricity Paralyzes Businesses in Matanzas, Cuba
Small businesses dedicated to the food trade are affected, and the annoyance of their owners who, in addition to income, lose part of their merchandise, is increasing.
By Julio Cesar Contreras (14ymedio)
HAVANA TIMES – Aurelio has not been able to serve any customers this Tuesday in his cell phone repair shop in Matanzas. The constant blackouts, especially in the part of the city where he works, affect his business, which depends almost entirely on electricity. The situation has forced him to give, for several days, the same response to his clients: “I have a solution for your phone. What I don’t have is electricity.”
“I live in Pueblo Nuevo, near the bus terminal, and I have to come to Allende to do my job. After an early morning with a blackout at home, isn’t it easy to get here and find the same situation?” the 52-year-old man from Matanzas, whose power in his workshop has been turned off again since 7:00 am, tells this newspaper.
His business, Aurelio says, is not “even remotely” the only one that suffers losses due to power outages. “Even state-run businesses are struggling.” A few days ago, the man from Matanzas went to the Bellamar state pizzeria, located a few blocks from his workshop, to look for some lunch. The place was in blackout and they had not been able to prepare any dishes. Asked if it was possible to return in a couple of hours, the waitress’s response – with a smile – was forceful: “You can come back whenever you want, but since we don’t know how long the blackout will be, we’re leaving.”
The MSMEs [micro, small and medium-size private enterprises] dedicated to the food trade, especially those that need refrigeration, are also affected, and the annoyance of their owners , who in addition to income, lose part of their merchandise, is increasing. “Here we use a coffee maker, toaster, oven… Everything is electrified. With the constant blackouts, it is difficult to maintain the ice cream and cold products with the necessary quality,” the owner of a cafeteria in the Iglesias neighborhood explains to 14ymedio.
“I have a friend whose MSME is mainly dedicated to selling chicken, and this week he had to empty an entire refrigerator that already had flies because the meat had spoiled,” he says. Compared to how demanding the State is with individuals, he laments, “the commitment is little.” “Every month I have to make a payment for my license, whether I sell anything or not. And if the inspectors show up, they want to charge me a fine for anything. Meanwhile, I am losing money and products go down the drain,” he complains.
The blackouts affect even the sectors most favored by the regime, such as tourism, which has one of its most important enclaves in Varadero. The hotels may not have the power cut off, but when the buses that transport workers come to refuel and there is no fuel at the service center, an operation that should take a few minutes ends up becoming a cumbersome procedure that takes long hours.
“Yesterday I was here until 7:00 pm and I couldn’t refuel because there was no electricity service and, therefore, the magnetic card could not be swiped. Today, the same. “I decided to wait a while, but if the power doesn’t come on…” says one of the disappointed drivers. The same thing happens with tourists who rent vehicles and when they arrive in the city find “no gas, no food, no anything.”
The chain of services affected by the blackouts, which, according to several residents of Matanzas, can exceed eight hours, is incalculable. “If there is no electricity, you cannot withdraw money from the bank, without money there is no food or transportation, much less energy to face the same situation every day. The list goes on and you come to see you can’t do anything because it is an essential service,” Aurelio grumbles.
The only place where there is no lack of electricity, explains the man from Matanzas, is in the La Marina neighborhood, where popular protests have occurred. In the rest of the city, “it doesn’t matter if it’s in an Etecsa branch [state telecommunications company], in the bank, in the law firm or in a store, wherever you go, there is a blackout.”
Translated by Translating Cuba.
Please report on how the smaller communities are going on several days with no water. This is not okay. Babies and elders not having water to drink. People aren’t able to cook, clean, or bathe. People wearing dirty clothes. Everyones health is at risk!! It’s not okay how the government is treating their people and soon tourists will not support that country when seeing this. That government should be in jail.
Not all but many of Cuba’s economy problems are self inflicted. Many others are intrinsically linked to the longest Trade Embargo any nation on earth but Cuba has suffered. The ” Bloqueo” is not only a Codified Embargo but a well oiled piece of Warfare the USA enforces on Cuba. So, the ordinary Cubans are trapped in a table wrench being moved by two forces. One is the Cuban State inefficient economy ( resulting among other issues in the lack of money to purchase fuel and parts for the aging energy producing power plants) and the powerful arms of Once Sam , both forces rotating clock wise, extricating the local “Liborio” who is right in the middle of the wrench sides.
As tourists visiting Cuba we had no idea what a night mare it would be. We booked on line expensive Casa Particular in Matanza. We had rented vehicle but ran out of gas and could not buy. Every night the power went off 6-8 hours ascwell as the telephone line and the internet!
The mosquitos ate us alive. The water was off most days and no hot water. We had no candles or lamps so we sat in the dark listening to our two kids crying. Disgusting reality. We realized we were getting scammed by going to the Cuban bank to exchange money as the street exchange was 3x higher.
We couldn’t find much food to cook in the apartment we rented thus forced to mediocre restaurants that want us to pay in US dollars: they had two menus,; one for Cubans and one for us.
7 days and nights in hell! A huge disappointment for the ‘holiday of a lifetime’. We complained to immigration that we were disappointed and that we should get a refund as the rental unit had no water and electricity for hours on end. The response from immigration was: “If you do not like it leave Cuba”
So much for Cuban hospitality.
We will tell everyone we know about our experience and never go to Cuba again.
A number of small industries in Cuba ( 1 to 3 people that produce goods for both tourists and export to high end gift shops that trade these items for badly needed foreign items can not produce without electricity
The protesters got electricity but at a huge cost in people in jail or even worse
The gov wants to keep control of the power and I understand the problem of walmart type companies
We need a complete change people can not run a business or get $ to buy food without a change of both the gov and the economy model. I know many bad things will happen then but I want to hear a better solution