Cuba suffers second nationwide blackout in five days • FRANCE 24 English

A nation-wide blackout struck Cuba on Friday for the second time this week. The country of nearly 10 million is grappling with a crumbling power grid and fuel shortages stemming from a U.S. energy blockade.

Authorities say they've already begun restoring power to some areas, but for residents, it's an ongoing nightmare amid the summer heat. For more on the story, we are joined by Shirley Sitbon from our International Affairs Desk. Shirley, first, talk us through some of the difficulties that ordinary Cubans are facing on a day-to-day basis.

Well, there's shortages on every level and sometimes really dramatic, and we're seeing that there are more and more island-wide blackouts because it's the fourth time in a year, but it's the second time this week, so the tension and the pressure is increasing. So why is this happening? Of course, there's this lack of fuel because of the U.S. blockade. and Cuba produces some of its fuel, but it gets much of it from abroad and used to get it from Venezuela, from Russia.

And with the events in Venezuela, the U.S. basically abducting, capturing Nicolas Maduro, the former president, changing everything, blocking all of the aid, all of the fuel getting to Cuba.

This has isolated the island. There are various shortages, also pressure on others like on Mexico not to bring in aid. So yes, the island doesn't have the fuel, and the old power plants, they need fuel.

They depend on fuel to function. And also the whole system, it's extremely old, it's not well maintained, it's very fragile. And authorities cite failures in connections between provinces in recent hours, and also a fluctuation in parameters.

So we're seeing more and more of this, more difficulties. And the situation, of course, is getting dramatic for the population, because we talked about public transportation, which is becoming really rare now. But also, there's a problem with the health system and many operations, which are postponed because they can't be carried out without electricity.

And we're seeing more and more of this. And also, water, clean water will be more and more difficult to provide to the population. So yes, a lot of concern there for Cubans.

So how is the country coping with the fuel crisis? Because it affects basically every aspect of the daily lives of Cubans. Yes, so the main way perhaps is to ration.

And authorities have actually had these planned blackouts, not for the whole island, but in some areas, to try and limit the use of electricity. And also, well, people, the Cubans have been producing some of their 40% of the fuel they need. So they do have some of it, but they've been cutting down on everything they use.

And now authorities are turning to other ways, to renewable energy, to solar panels, saying that if there's no fuel, and this will continue on the long run, and the pressure will continue to increase, they have to find alternative solutions. And so solar panels is one way to get there. There is, of course, a lot of anger, a lot of frustration among Cubans.

Let's listen to some of the people who were interviewed by various news agencies. This needs to change. I don't know if it's a matter of the government, the current situation, or if we need to go to other countries to negotiate.

But this needs to change because people are very unhappy. The power has gone out three times today. I'm doing laundry and all my clothes are wet.

I don't know if they'll start to smell bad, because I have no idea when the power will come back on. We're all having a really hard time with the blackout, because we can't take this darkness anymore. It's really getting to us.

So what is the U.S. administration actually trying to achieve here with this energy blockade on Cuba?

Well, they're trying to achieve, that's what they're saying, a change, a political shift in Cuba, an economic shift as well, really a change of the way the country is being run there. And the Cuban officials have always said that that's out of the question and that everything the U.S. is doing there, this blockade is illegal.

The U.N. actually has the exact same position.

It goes against international law. It goes against human rights for the Cuban people. But the U.S. tries to, and actually perhaps some would argue that it's functioned partially because Cuban leaders have brought in some changes, more openness into the economy, allowing some investment from abroad.

But they say they will not go any further, remains to be seen because the situation is getting more and more tense. And will they, I wouldn't say cave in, but will they try and negotiate something with the Americans? But in any case, the Cubans have said, and not them alone, many have been saying, many world leaders and international institutions saying that this is unacceptable and that the Cubans cannot be pressed that way and that the U.S. has to change the way it's managing this crisis.

All right, Shirley, thank you for helping us get a better idea of the situation in Cuba. That's Shirley Zippon from our International Affairs desk.