The ruler of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, warned on Sunday (10/20/2024) that will act with “rigor” against those who try to alter public orderin the middle of a total blackout that has kept the island in the dark for three nights.
In a government meeting broadcast by Noticiero Estelar, the president, dressed in a military uniform, said that people who try to “cause alterations in public order” and who participate in acts of vandalism “will be prosecuted accordingly with the rigor contemplated.” the revolutionary laws.”
Some “act under the guidelines given to them by the operators of the Cuban counter revolution.” from the outside,” he added.
At the same time, in certain neighborhoods of the capital there were loud bangs of discontent due to the lack of electricity. Several women with children in their arms went out with pots and pans on Sunday night to demonstrate in the populous Santos Suárez neighborhood. Another group closed a street in Central Havana with garbage barricades.
“On my block the people on the street are noisy, with cauldrons and shouting”a resident of Santos Suarez, who requested anonymity, told AFP.
“My cold (refrigerator) has already been defrosted for three days and I’m afraid that everything will spoil,” explained this Sunday Adismary Cuza, a 56-year-old private worker, is desperate.
“Two days without electricity, what is this gentleman? What is going to happen? “Cubans are tired of so much,” adds Serguei Castillo, 68, who is as worried as Cuza.
Hurricane Oscar passes through the western end of the island
In the midst of an energy collapse, Hurricane Oscar hit the western end of the island on Sunday night.
Waves up to four meters high hit the Baracoa boardwalk, where some damage to roofs was already recorded. and walls of houses and falling poles and trees, reported the Noticiero Estelar.
The Forecast Center of the Cuban Meteorological Institute said that the hurricane continues to present “maximum sustained winds” and “remains at 130 kilometers per hour, with higher gusts,” within category one according to the Saffir-Simpson scale.
Oscar made landfall in the Cuban province of Guantánamonear the city of Baracoa at 5:50 p.m. local time (9:50 p.m. GMT), said the National Hurricane Center (NHC) of the United States.
The hurricane reached a Cuba without electricity since Friday due to a failure in the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the most important on the island, which caused the national system to collapse.
Authorities promise to restore electricity this Monday
The president acknowledged that the situation of the electricity system continues to be “complex”, and marked by strong instability.
The minister of that portfolio, Vicente de la O Levy, stated earlier in a conference that “between tomorrow, Monday morning, in the afternoon, at night” They hoped to restore service Monday night for the vast majority of the island. However, shortly after that announcement, a new failure was recorded, after managing to bring service to more than 200,000 people in Havana, according to the national electricity company.
“A few minutes ago another disconnection of the Electrical System, SEN, occurred. The restoration work began immediately,” stated the Cuban Ministry of Energy and Mines in its X account.
The authorities suspended classes and essential work activities until Wednesday, only hospitals and vital services for the population will remain in operation.
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