(22 Oct 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 21 October 2024
+++NIGTH SHOTS+++
1. Skyline view of Havana
2. Various of people buying food, sitting at park benches with electricity
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 22 October 2024
3. People in the street and others lining up
4. Woman with child buying avocadoes
++IMAGES OVER SOUNDBITE++
5. SOUNBITE (Spanish) Carlos López, Havana resident:
“There is still a long way to go, that’s my opinion. Look at how everything is. There are many lines everywhere you go, you get to a place and there are obstacles and obstacles. Look at the (bad) bread they brought in now.”
6. People line up to buy rationed bread
7. Woman with shopping outside market
8. Man at the barber’s shop
9. Various of city garbage collection
10. Street
STORYLINE:
Cuba was recovering Tuesday from a large-scale electricity blackout after four difficult days and dark nights.
Although a major improvement is expected in the next hours, authorities warned problems with national energy system are far from being solved.
The prolonged nationwide blackout that followed a massive outage Thursday night was part of countrywide energy problems that led to the largest protests in Cuba in almost 30 years, in July 2021.
Power remains relatively cheap but increasingly unavailable. The Cuban government on state television Monday night said that it’s producing 1300 megawatts when peak demand can hit 3 gigawatts.
Authorities said by Monday afternoon that about 80 percent of Havana had intermittent power but people remained fearful.
“There is still a long way to go, that’s my opinion. Look at how everything is," Havana resident Carlos López said.
Life started to get back to normal in the capital with some shops opened and people returning to work though schools will remain closed through Thursday.
Restrictions also remain in place for nightclubs or any other venue that could gather large numbers of people and demand a lot of energy.
The situation provoked a few small protests in Havana on Sunday evening but since Monday no demonstrations were reported.
On Tuesday morning, the streets of Havana were crowded with people looking for food but still facing long lines.
The energy emergency throughout the island began on Thursday night when 50% of the country was blacked out during peak hours due to the lack of electricity generation.
The situation prompted a special appearance of Prime Minister Manuel Marrero to order saving measures such as the suspension of classes or non-vital activities.
But the most critical situation was unleashed on Friday morning with the total collapse of the energy system caused by the shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras power plant.
According to the Cuban government, the deficient energy production and distribution is the result of a a small increase in demand, but above all by the lack of fuel to feed the generation plants and the frequent breakdowns in the old thermoelectric power plants.
These last two factors are caused by the harsh U.S. sanctions, which prevent Cuba from buying crude oil or its derivatives or acquiring spare parts.
The Cuban government and its allies blame the United States’ 62-year-old trade embargo on the island for its economic problems but White House said Monday that the Cuban government’s “long-term mismanagement of its economic policy and resources has certainly increased the hardship of people in Cuba.”
AP video by Ariel Fernández and Milexsy Durán
===========================================================
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/7ecbfde04d374121996e06628841d67c
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in October 27, 2024, 9:04 pm.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
