Hurricane Ian in Cuba: the power is gradually returning after days of blackout

Government officials clash with protesters calling for the restoration of electric service after six days of power cuts.

Havana, Saturday, October 1, 2022. AP - Ramon Espinosa

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The current is gradually returning to Havana, the capital of Cuba, after the passage of Hurricane Ian earlier this week.

94% of homes have electricity again, according to the public electricity company.

For two days, Cubans had been demonstrating to protest against the slow return to normal.

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Concert of pans, streets blocked with garbage containers, in several districts of Havana, to protest against the absence of light and the cuts of mobile data in the evening.

Overall, the police let it go.

The official newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party insists on the need to be “ 

united in order to be able to recover 

”.

On Tuesday, when Hurricane Ian hit western Cuba, the whole country was left in the dark.

According to the public electricity company, two high-voltage lines came to a standstill due to cables torn by the wind, which caused a total failure of the system.

Since then, the authorities have been trying to repair this aging, poorly maintained network, with the help of Mexico, which provided cables and equipment.

If today, a large part of the inhabitants of the capital therefore have power, this is not the case in the west, in the provinces of Pinar del Río and Artemisa.

Only 3% of users have electricity.

Without electricity, it is impossible to supply the water pumps, or to save the food reserves in the freezers, whereas Cubans are used to storing in a context of food shortage.

The return to normal will take a long time.

The hurricane also devastated one of the pillars of the national economy: the tobacco plantations.

►Read again: Press review of the Americas: Cuba in total darkness

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