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Blackouts beleaguer Cubans;
Castro declares energy crisis
The
Billings Gazette,
October 3, 2004.
MANICARAGUA, Cuba - It's early afternoon
in this sweltering town, but air conditioners
are off, the lights are out and stereos
are silent.
Like much of Cuba, Manicaragua is suffering
through one of the lengthy blackouts that
have plagued this island nation in recent
months, setting residents on edge, fanning
discontent and forcing Cuban President Fidel
Castro to take to the airwaves to cool tempers.
"We have a crisis," Castro said
last week during a national television broadcast
to address the energy shortages.
The 78-year-old leader said there was no
quick fix for Cuba's antiquated and problem-plagued
electrical grid but pledged to significantly
boost the island's electrical output.
Power failures are nothing new in Cuba
but they have intensified in recent months
and changed life in large ways and small.
More than 100 factories are being temporarily
closed to save electricity. The work and
school day is being shortened by 30 minutes.
Daylight savings time is being kept through
the winter months so students will not have
to study in the dark if a blackout hits
during the morning hours. Streetlights also
are being dimmed, and air conditioners are
being turned off during peak hours to conserve
energy.
In Manicaragua, a town 175 miles southeast
of Havana set amid lush rolling hills and
renowned for its world-class tobacco, one
of two local banks and its only currency
exchange shop are closed during the blackouts.
The local photography shop can't print
photographs without power. Restaurants can't
serve ice cream or offer croquetas, a popular
fried snack in Cuba.
Some residents are sleeping on rooftops
or in doorways to cope with the stifling
heat, which turns the town's cement-block
homes into ovens without functioning air
conditioners or electric fans.
Diplomats and observers say the blackouts
lasting up to 12 hours a day represent a
sharp challenge to the leadership of Latin
America's only communist state.
The last protest against the Cuban government
occurred a decade ago when the island nation
suffered a devastating economic crisis sparked
by the collapse of the Soviet Union, then
Cuba's main trading partner and the supplier
of cheap fuel for its power plants.
Experts say they don't expect public protests
to erupt this time because many Cubans are
better off than in the early 1990s, when
the nation suffered chronic power outages
and food shortages.
Cubans also say they fear arrest or worse
if they speak out against the government.
"There is a lot of fear and political
manipulation," said Elsio Alejo, a
29-year-old Manicaragua farmer. "We
don't have a way to protest what is happening."
But Castro's prime-time TV appearances
indicates the government recognizes the
gravity of the energy crisis, according
to diplomats.
Dressed in his familiar olive green uniform,
Castro questioned top electrical officials
during the broadcasts about the blackouts,
which were attributed to inefficient power
plants, faulty transmission lines and other
technical problems.
Castro also listened as officials explained
how workers at the nation's most important
power plant broke a key rotor during routine
maintenance. The plant, which supplies 15
percent of the nation's power, ha been shut
since May.
Cuban officials used Wednesday evening's
broadcast to announce emergency conservation
measures, though Castro acknowledged that
some Cubans were probably not able to watch
because of the power failures.
Marisa Alejo was one of those who couldn't
tune in. "There was a blackout,"
she said.
Chicago Tribune
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Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.
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