LEAVING CUBA
President Diaz-Canel blamed the situation on Cuba’s difficulties in acquiring fuel for its power plants, which he attributed to the tightening, during Donald Trump’s presidency, of a six-decade-long US trade embargo.
Cuba is in the throes of its worst economic crisis since the collapse of key ally the Soviet Union in the early 1990s – marked by soaring inflation and shortages of basic goods.
With no relief in sight, many Cubans have emigrated.
More than 700,000 entered the US between January 2022 and August 2024, according to US officials.
While the authorities chiefly blame the US embargo, the island is also feeling the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic battering its critical tourism sector, and of economic mismanagement.
To bolster its grid, Cuba has leased seven floating power plants from Turkish companies and also added many small diesel-powered generators.
In July 2021, blackouts sparked an unprecedented outpouring of public anger.
Thousands of Cubans took to the streets shouting, “We are hungry” and “Freedom!” in a rare challenge to the government.
One person was killed and dozens were injured in the protests. According to the Mexico-based human rights organization Justicia 11J, 600 people detained during the unrest remain in prison.
In 2022, the island also suffered months of daily, hours-long power outages, capped by a nationwide blackout caused by Hurricane Ian.
