Millions in Cuba still without power as major outage persists

BOGOTA: Millions of Cubans remain without electricity because of a prolonged outage at the main power plants on the island, Anadolu Agency reported.

Reports indicate that a malfunction at the Antonio Guiteras Power Plant in Matanzas on Friday left most of Cuba in the dark.

Authorities announced that following intense efforts, electricity has begun to be restored in some areas, including the capital, Havana.

About 80 per cent of the country, however, is still without power, and certain regions have experienced outages lasting more than 30 hours, according to the report.

Images on social media show the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana shrouded in darkness.

Energy officials, meanwhile, convening under the leadership of President Miguel Diaz-Canel, are evaluating measures to address the outages.

Cuba frequently faces electricity shortages due to issues at power plants, which stem from inadequate maintenance of facilities built more than 40 years ago by the Soviet Union.

The Energy and Mines Ministry said the country consumes 8 million tonnes of fuel annually, with only 3 million tonnes sourced from domestic production.

Economic embargoes have forced Cuba to rely heavily on Venezuela, Russia and Mexico for its energy needs.

In recent years, the Cuban government has started leasing floating power plants to mitigate outages and enhance production capacity.

Diaz-Canel wrote on X that efforts to resolve the electricity shortages will continue unabated until the situation improves.

-- BERNAMA