Breathe
By Stephanie Henaro
If only in the dark you can see the stars, it is clear that at this moment in Cuba it is the only thing you can see.
What is happening on the island has many causes, but what will have the greatest impact now is a tropical storm that will hit a country that is experiencing one of its most serious crises since the Cuban Revolution.
Now it turns out that even climate change will have something to do with it, but beyond all this it is important to note that the country went through four consecutive days of blackouts and just a few hours ago the state company Unión Eléctrica de la isla (UNE) reported that "the reconnection of the entire country to the National Electric System (SEN) has been completed, although this does not imply that there is stable electric flow and the blackouts are overcome, because the generation capacity, as before Friday's total blackout, is insufficient."
Regional disparities are large at the moment. In Havana, reconnection has reached almost 100%, but in Santiago de Cuba (east), Matanzas (west) or Cienfuegos (center) it ranges between 40 and 60%.
Despite the fact that Cuba is not being news to anyone, it is heading for one of the biggest humanitarian crises in its history, even if for a moment they have electricity.
Frequent blackouts damage the Cuban economy, which in 2023 contracted by 1.9% and remains below 2019 levels and whip up social discontent in a society affected by an economic crisis aggravated in recent years.
Just to give a painful fact, in 2024 Cuba's population will drop to 8 million -it used to be 11- because 3 million have left and this confirms that the current Cuban migratory exodus is greater than those of other periods, such as El Mariel in 1980, the Balseros Crisis in 1994 and Boca de Camarioca in 1965. In short, not since the Cuban revolution have so many people left and this explains why this nationality is among the first places in the detentions that are made at the border crossing between Mexico and the United States, on a daily basis.
It is also important to note that, geopolitically speaking, what happens globally is reflected on the island. Its traditional allies, such as Russia and China, have bigger problems. Cuba is on its own for the first time and now Mexico has decided to keep it company and send it oil so it can end the blackouts. Will Mexico be its new Venezuela?
Because when there is a shortage of fuel, there is no transportation, but there is also no fuel to run the ovens that make bread, no electricity to keep the refrigerator running and the food from spoiling. Schools are closed and the government is asking people not to go to work. Like in the pandemic, because in a way that's what they are experiencing, but of a different kind.
When there is no electricity, there is no way to live in Cuba. They don't have drinking water, they can't sleep because of the heat, and unfortunately that's already a constant.
Cuba is a people accustomed to scarcity, but never like now. I hope that by seeing the stars in the darkness, they have found the light.
Here in Mexico we also had blackouts, have we seen the stars?
Last one to leave, turn off the light.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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