Blackouts Begin Again in Cuba
By Benjamin Noria
HAVANA TIMES -There were blackouts for almost a week in May all over the country. The official TV news reported a breakdown at a power station. One day soon, Cuba’s communist government won’t be able to feed its people these regular lies anymore.
It’s been five months now since the beginning of the so-called “Tarea Ordenamiento” (economic reforms) and, in addition to prices going up, blackouts have also started again. These blackouts mean that the regime is giving its final kicks of life. The incompetence of the Castros’ government has left the country in ruins.
Water supplies are currently irregular in many cities, bread is being made with corn and squash. Additionally, Cubans don’t have enough rice to eat for the month, there aren’t any amalgams for fillings in dentist procedures, there aren’t any antibiotics, and now there are also blackouts.
However, ironically, the military presence on our streets has increased. When authoritarian governments are in crisis, that’s when they become even more repressive, as they are afraid of a social uprising.
Just imagine spending a whole day without electricity, and not being able to use a fan or the air-conditioning as a result, if you have it, in a tropical and humid country like Cuba. What quality of life and wellbeing can a Cuban hope for when they are living in these conditions? How will workers be motivated to produce and perform at work in these deplorable conditions?
The Castro government declares itself a defender of the country as it considers itself a victim of attacks perpetrated by digital magazines and journalists and social media, which according to them, threatens the country’s sovereignty.
However, ever since the Revolution triumphed in 1959, it has been destroying every legal and free space, and sinking large groups of the population into poverty. Likewise, distorting the news, destroying justice, committing human rights crimes, and establishing a new dictatorship model for the 21st century, that is already beginning to be imitated in other Latin American countries.
The Castro dynasty is clinging with all its might to the past, and its Party guidelines and reforms are a sure recipe for paralysis, failure, and social annoyance. They don’t believe in the market and they don’t see private enterprise as an engine for progress, but rather as an instrument to exploit workers. They think that it stops the State from managing the national economy and they encourage state interventionism as a safeguard for social justice.
The blackouts are adding to the uncertainty of many that no longer believe in the government. They don’t want a government that continues to throw stones, after 60 years, without being able to bring about progress and prosperity in the country. Cubans are barely surviving one of the longest dictatorships that has ever existed in the Americas.
Many people here have been pushed to desperation brought on by a monotonous reality in the government’s lack of sincerity in its media monopoly. I’m guessing that over half the population already want to leave the country and go elsewhere to try their luck and live a better life.
It’s time for totalitarianism to finally end! The Castros’ economic and political mistakes must end now!
The survivalist dictatorship that exists in Cuba has faced worse crisis. The only major difference today in comparison to previous shortages and blackouts is the real-time digital communication about the failings of the Castro regime with family and friends outside of Cuba. There is little that can take place in Cuba today that is not captured on video and transmitted around the world immediately. This puts the Castro regime in the, at worst, awkward position of constantly defending bad economic policy. The current presidential placeholder, Diaz-Canel, however, is largely immune to public complaints so even the the constant bad press will do little to sway government practices.
There’s a revolution on the horizon, people cannot tolerate these inhumane living conditions much longer. They deserve better in the year 2021.
How Long Can we Survive The Dark Period as My Family Suffer from the Mosquitoes with Power outages. That is Now a Cuban Childs Fear in the Dark with No Fan that provides More than a Good nights sleep as well & their Health. A.C. Can have No place in Cuba if Food security does not come first with The Darkest of Government that holds the Power to Provide or ignore their Suffering has aged on for too many Dark Times