00:00 Hundreds of Cubans have demonstrated in the streets of Santiago de Cuba, the second city in the island,
00:05 to express their discontent with the prolonged power cuts that occurred over the weekend.
00:10 Electricity shortages have become frequent since the beginning of March
00:14 due to maintenance work on the country's largest thermal power plant,
00:18 and the situation is aggravated by a shortage of fuel.
00:21 Indeed, fuel is essential to power the other thermal power plants in operation.
00:27 They are angry.
00:29 Hundreds of demonstrators descended on Sunday, March 17, in the streets of Santiago de Cuba,
00:34 in the southeast of the island, to protest against the long power cuts that the inhabitants have suffered over the weekend.
00:40 People shouted "food and electricity",
00:43 a resident of the city, located 800 km east of Havana,
00:46 told AFP by phone, having required anonymity.
00:50 "Electricity returned later in the day and two rice trucks were on the way,"
00:55 explains this witness.
00:57 The Cuban news website 14 Imedio broadcast the images of the gathering in Santiago de Cuba and Bayamo
01:02 on which demonstrators demand electricity and food.
01:06 In recent days, the inhabitants of Santiago de Cuba, the country's second city,
01:11 have been deprived of electricity several times, sometimes for 14 hours.
01:15 Several people have expressed their discontent with the electric service and food distribution,
01:21 as Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel reacted to X,
01:24 warning against the enemies of the revolution who exploit this context for destabilizing purposes.
01:30 "There are terrorists based in the United States, which we have denounced several times,
01:35 who encourage actions to destabilize the country," he said.
01:39 Maintenance work of a thermal power plant
01:42 On the same social network, the United States Embassy in Cuba called on the Cuban government
01:47 to respect the rights of the demonstrators.
01:50 The Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodriguez,
01:53 then urged Washington not to interfere in the country's domestic affairs, as well as on X.
01:59 Since early March, Cuba has faced a new wave of breakdowns due to maintenance work
02:04 on the thermal power plant in Tonobitra, the largest on the island,
02:08 located in the province of Matanzas, a hundred kilometers east of Havana.
02:12 This weekend, the problem was aggravated by the shortage of fuel affecting the entire country.
02:18 Fuel is necessary to power the other operational thermal power plants.
02:23 The entire island of Cuba has been affected by power cuts,
02:27 including the capital, said Cuban authorities on Saturday.
02:31 In 2022, Cuba experienced an unprecedented drop in its electricity production
02:36 and even a widespread breakdown caused by Hurricane Ian.
02:39 Cuba's electricity production system consists of eight old thermal power plants,
02:44 as well as generators and eight generators for Turkey,
02:48 also affected by the lack of fuel.
02:51 With AFP
Comments