Blackouts, Crisis, & Corruption: Nothing New at Home

By Francisco Acevedo

HAVANA TIMES – Daily blackouts lasting between 12 and 15 hours keep the vast majority of Cubans on edge, precisely when the summer season arrives, making the heat on the island unbearable.

Practically every day, the National Television News reports on repairs being carried out at the country’s different thermoelectric plants, supposedly to prioritize the months of July and August when most of the population is on vacation. However, this is not the first time we have heard this story, and then summer continues with the same pattern.

Hundreds of memes have been dedicated to the problem of electricity generation, including one where a citizen offers to work at the pace of the thermoelectric plants: one day of work for a week of rest.

Unfortunately, this is the reality. When it’s not one plant, it’s another, but always some plant is out of service, and the rest can’t meet the national demand. Therefore, the service has to be cut to prioritize the most vulnerable points, including the capital.

Nonetheless, in Havana, they are also suffering, and although it’s much less annoying because it’s generally during daylight hours and for about six hours, it’s a clear sign that if the capital is like this, you can multiply by three to know what happens with the rest of the provinces.

By the way, while the situation here is increasingly desperate, several companies abroad, mainly from the United States and Spain, are profiting from the sales of power generators or transformers.

Once again, the exiled carry the burdens of their families in Cuba on their shoulders, and the fruits of their labor translate into investment for the Island. According to some reports, several owners of these companies are linked or had close ties with the dictatorship, which is the same but different.

Adding to this is the fuel crisis, which seems endless, and various transportation services, including tourist services, have been suspended until further notice. Even the traditional Meteoro exercise, conducted nationwide as a hurricane season drill, has been halted.

The most curious thing is that nobody stops. If Transtur doesn’t make trips to Varadero, private individuals do, and this can only be understood as widespread corruption at practically all levels of government. The gasoline here enters through a single route and has a single administrator, our beloved Miguel Díaz-Canel.

But this week, his right-hand man, Manuel Marrero, directed all top-level officials to fight corruption, which is like shooting oneself in the foot. Because if it’s not to take advantage of their positions, why would anyone want to be a leader in Cuba?

No one can live on the meager salary they earn, much less if that person produces nothing and spends their time in meetings. Those who produce and go out to solve their needs can’t resolve them. How can someone who doesn’t know what a ration store is survive?

Evidently, by using their influence to get what they and their families need.

“We are not advancing in identifying and eliminating causes and conditions,” says Marrero. Of course, the cause is the system itself, which tells the citizen who becomes an official and guarantees them conditions above the rest of their fellow citizens without producing anything. Where does the food, drink, vacations, fuel, air conditioning, etc., for that leader come from? The system itself says, come and talk it up, and you will have everything guaranteed.

So, how can we expect that person not to take advantage of their position for personal gain? In that same meeting, the Head of the National Tax Administration Office (ONAT), Mary Blanca Ortega, responded that almost two thousand inspections were carried out, and the withdrawal of more than 200 temporary licenses to engage in work activities and the closure of several establishments was requested.

However, Marrero refers to the problems in state entities, and this lady targets the private sector, because evidently, these licenses she talks about are from Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

I’m not an expert in economics, but I don’t think the owner of an private business wants to steal from themselves. If it refers to the illegal acquisition of products to keep their business active, that’s another matter. But that is supposedly illegal if obtained from the Socialist State, and then measures should include officials from the involved state companies.

The corruption phenomena that occur frequently, far from being exposed exemplarily, to continue with the “official” language, are silenced and kept low profile. Of the thousands of hours dedicated to attacking the opposition in the media, with names and surnames and any dirty laundry, not even one percent is used to do the same with an official who has overstepped.

The case of former Economy Minister Alejandro Gil is a good example. It still has not been said exactly what he did, only that he betrayed the trust placed in him, and blah, blah, blah. Specifically, what did Gil do? The little that has come out is from outside Cuba; no one here gives details. If it were a government detractor, we would know even when they go to the bathroom and what their feces smell like, and sorry for the example, but it’s unfortunately like that.

Much less will we see on the National Television News demonstrations like those happening almost every day in the country during blackouts. Instead we continue hearing the same drivel about Communist Party Guidelines, obligatory magnetic payments, Single Window for speedy administrative needs, currency reform, and a long etcetera of measures that solve nothing. When these protests become widespread, then we will see.

Read more from Cuba here on Havana Times.