The People of Manzanillo, Cuba Are Without Light or Hope
as if back in the Stone Age
The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant , largest in the country, went down again this Monday due to a new breakdown.
By Carlos A. Rodriguez (14ymedio)
HAVANA TIMES – “It seems like we’ve gotten used to the blackouts. Now people get up to cook at four in the morning to take advantage of the current, or they buy coal that is scarce and goes up in price due to demand,” Eneida says as she selects some battered bananas in the market.
“Before six they had already turned off the power, so I had to start a fire to make coffee and cook peas. But life at home is not just about cooking. You have to wash and iron clothes and even watch a telenovela. Everything can’t be work, I’ve already done enough,” says the retiree.
Yordanki faces the same difficulties in his daily life, although he must also worry about his family. “Everything has become a problem,” he says. “In the house and on the street we walk like zombies, thinking about what to cook, and with what. This is an abuse. Even if my boys start their homework early, they don’t have daylight for long, even less so for the period of exams. They study with rechargeable lightbulbs and even with cell phones, but in the morning they go to school already tired. And so day after day passes, with no prospects for improvement.”
The blackouts have long ceased to be an event and now are one of the most important daily problems for the Cuban people. The consequences are catastrophic for industry and the economy, whose growth is unfeasible without energy; also for families, the most fragile link in society.
“It’s no longer about whether it’s the Felton or the Guiteras [power plant]. Just yesterday we were without electricity from eight in the morning until dawn today. It’s too much,” Mariela protests. The Matanzas thermoelectric plant, the largest-capacity unit on the Island, left the National Electric System on Sunday morning in an “unforeseen” way. It was synchronized again on Monday night, but before 8 pm, it had suffered another breakdown. “You don’t recover from the shock. My daughter lives in the United States, and my fear is that when there is a blackout, landlines, cell phones and the internet don’t work, so you can’t even communicate with your relatives. What’s
more, the television signals go down and even Radio Granma, so there’s nowhere to find out about anything.”
“Manzanillo is unrecognizable,” says the night watchman of a company. “The city is completely dark. You only see a few public light bulbs at the beginning of the boardwalk and a few others on some streets. That, and in a couple of private businesses. People don’t go out anymore. They hardly even sit on their front steps for fear of being assaulted or having stones thrown at them. You see me here because they still have music in El Castillito, but I’m going to pick myself up just in case. And you should do the same,” he suggests frankly.
Except for a few who can relieve their nights with generators provided by relatives abroad, the people live like they’re back in the Stone Age. In the shadows, February promises to be a long month, too long, although 2025 is not a leap year.
Translated by Regina Anavy for Translating Cuba.