By Nelson Acosta and Alian Fernandez
CARDENAS, Cuba (Reuters) – Power outages totaling 14 hours or more a day were reported on Thursday across much of crisis-torn Cuba, leaving millions of people unprotected in the summer heat and humidity.
The state-owned electricity company said the faults put six stations out of service on the aging and poorly maintained grid.
The monopoly provider has promised a slight relief for the weekend with humidity forecast at around 90% and temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).
There was no power Thursday evening in Matanzas province east of Havana, except for the popular tourist resort of Varadero and key establishments such as hospitals, according to local social media reports and Reuters witnesses.
Residents appeared resigned to their fate and declined to give their last names as they searched for fresh air in the dark streets of the town of Santa Marta in the municipality of Cardenas.
“We’ve already adapted,” Doris said, sitting outside her home with her two adult sons. “Cubans live like this, laughing quietly, with or without light.”
The communist-ruled country has been suffering from power cuts since 2021, leading to rare protests. The outages reflect a deepening economic crisis marked by shortages of basic goods, double-digit inflation and a lack of cash to import fuel and spare parts for infrastructure.
Ariel Rodriguez, a 52-year-old restaurant worker at the other end of the Caribbean island nation east of Santiago de Cuba, where protests erupted in March demanding food and lighting, said by phone that the power outages had eased since then but have worsened again.
He said, “Power outages over the past two weeks have averaged 10 hours per day, from 7am to 1pm, and at night from 7pm to 11pm.”
“Yesterday they added 11 p.m. to 3:15 a.m.,” Rodriguez added.
Residents of the eastern province of Holguin and the central provinces of Camaguey and Cienfuegos described similar conditions.
Havana has largely escaped power outages, which come at intervals of four hours or more, often several times over a 24-hour period.