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Power blackout hits all of Puerto Rico as residents prepare for Easter weekend

Power blackout hits all of Puerto Rico as residents prepare for Easter weekend

Independent17-04-2025

A power blackout hit all of Puerto Rico on Wednesday as the heavily Catholic U.S. territory prepared to celebrate the Easter weekend.
All 1.4 million clients were affected, Hugo Sorrentini, spokesman for Luma Energy, which oversees the transmission and distribution of power, told The Associated Press. By late Wednesday night, crews had restored power to nearly 100,000 clients, or about 7%, although the number was expected to fluctuate.
Hotels were near capacity, with thousands of tourists celebrating Easter vacations on the island. Tourism officials rushed to reassure them that many hotels and other businesses were operating with generators.
Meanwhile, at least 328,000 clients were without water.
'It is unacceptable that we have a failure of this magnitude in the transmission of the electrical system,' said Gov. Jenniffer González, who cut short her weeklong vacation and flew back to Puerto Rico on Wednesday night.
Officials said 90% of clients would likely have electricity 48 to 72 hours after the blackout occurred.
It was not immediately clear what caused the shutdown, the latest in a string of major blackouts on the island in recent years.
Thousands of Puerto Ricans were fuming over the latest outage, with many renewing their calls that the government cancel the contract with Luma and Genera PR, which oversees generation of power on the island.
'This is a total disaster,' said Orlando Huertas, 68, as he sipped a drink with a friend at a streetside bar and criticized the government for not doing enough to tackle the chronic outages.
Dozens of people were forced to walk on an overpass next to the rails of the rapid transit system that serves the capital, San Juan, while scores of businesses including the biggest mall in the Caribbean were forced to close. Professional baseball and basketball games were cancelled as the hum of generators and smell of smoke filled the air. Traffic became snarled as police officers were deployed to busy intersections.
Reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny echoed the collective rage, writing on X: 'When are we going to do something?'
The governor pledged late Wednesday that she would cancel the contract with Luma, but noted that while government officials have started analyzing the contract and finding possible replacements, it wouldn't be a quick process.
González also said that she has requested an in-depth investigation into the blackout, noting that officials already have warned there won't be enough generation of power for this summer, when demand peaks.
'Puerto Rico can't be the island where the power goes out all the time,' González said. 'We're going to take action. Let people have no doubts.'
While power restoration on the main island of Puerto Rico was moving slowly to protect equipment, emergency generation stations restored power to the tiny neighboring island of Culebra and parts of neighboring Vieques, said Josué Colón, the island's so-called energy czar and former executive director of Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority.
Those without generators crowded around grocery stores and other businesses to buy ice across Puerto Rico.
'I'm desperate. My generator is broken,' said Carmen Suriel, who worried about the impact of the blackout on her two children, a six-month-old and a five-year-old with Down syndrome, as the temperature rose across Puerto Rico on Wednesday.
Alma Ramírez, 69, said she was frustrated with the constant outages, some of which had already damaged her TV and microwave, forcing her to buy new appliances.
'They have to improve," she said of the government. 'Those who are affected are us, the poor.'
The island of 3.2 million residents has a more than 40% poverty rate, and not everyone can afford solar panels or generators. While there was a push to use more renewable energy sources under the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden, which provided Puerto Rico with mega generators and other resources, experts worry that won't happen under U.S. President Donald Trump.
Roughly 117,000 homes and businesses on the island have solar rooftops. Meanwhile, petroleum-fired power plants provide 62% of Puerto Rico's power, natural gas 24%, coal 8% and renewables 7%, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Daniel Hernández, vice president of operations at Genera PR, said at a news conference that a disturbance hit the transmission system shortly after noon on Wednesday, during a time when the grid is vulnerable because there are not many machines regulating frequency at that hour.
Verónica Ferraiuoli, acting governor and secretary of state for Puerto Rico, said the White House reached out to local officials and said they are available if needed.
Pablo José Hernández, Puerto Rico's representative in Congress, said he would work to ensure that 'Washington understands the real and urgent situation Puerto Ricans face every day.'
'The electric grid crisis is frustrating, and after years of blackouts, it feels like it's going from bad to worse," he said.
The last islandwide blackout occurred on New Year's Eve.
Puerto Rico has struggled with chronic outages since September 2017 when Hurricane Maria pummeled the island as a powerful Category 4 storm, razing a power grid that crews are still struggling to rebuild.
The grid already had been deteriorating as a result of decades of a lack of maintenance and investment under Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority, which is struggling to restructure more than $9 billion in debt.
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Brits facing summer of chaos as hotel workers to strike every Friday in Tenerife throughout July and August
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Brits facing summer of chaos as hotel workers to strike every Friday in Tenerife throughout July and August

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A million people make wilderness pilgrimage to honour 13th-century Virgin Mary icon
A million people make wilderness pilgrimage to honour 13th-century Virgin Mary icon

The Independent

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It would be a picnic,' said Patricia Rodríguez Galinier, who oversees liturgical celebrations for the Triana brotherhood. Based in a neighbourhood by the same name in Seville, about 50 miles (80 kilometres) away, it's one of the largest and oldest, founded more than 200 years ago. Rodríguez had just helped set up Mass by the Triana 'simpecado' — meaning 'without sin.' It refers to their version of the icon of the Virgin, carried by an ox-driven cart covered in silver and fresh flowers. At each night's camp, wagons are set in a circle and people gather to worship through the night. With the oxen tied to small trees and some riders still on horses in the 90-degree weather (33 Celsius), more than 700 faithful listened to the homily by their spiritual director, the Rev. Manuel Sánchez. 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That's allowed the centuries-old pilgrimage tradition to continue without the strictness of other places of devotion to Mary. It has stayed in the hands of the brotherhoods instead of the institutional church, said González. He's a member of the main brotherhood from Almonte, the closest town to the sanctuary that manages its white church filled with golden images and orange sand from the pilgrims' footsteps. Its president, Santiago Padilla, spent hours at the sanctuary's doors Saturday, solemnly welcoming each brotherhood as they arrived. 'They come laden with intentions, supplications, prayers. And it's the moment we shake their hands, we hug and we give thanks to the Virgin for this pilgrimage they made,' said Padilla, whose family has been pilgrims for generations. A return to countryside roots Padilla wore an impeccably white jacket and formal riding kit, like many members of the brotherhoods who do the pilgrimage on horseback. Women wear shawls and long, flaring dresses or skirts — to better ride sideways on horses and protect themselves from the brush and the sun. Such outfits might look like Spanish stereotypes, but they pay homage to the working traditions of many families from the area. 'Everything that has a good presence takes us a bit closer to God,' said Ignacio Sabater Wasaldúa, the Triana brotherhood leader. He rode horses this year alongside his son, helping lead the dozens of wagons and thousands of pilgrims on foot. The brotherhoods stress that their commitment to Christian life transcends one yearly pilgrimage — though it draws inspiration from it and they wouldn't consider missing it. 'El Rocío should be a model for society, with affection and solidarity,' Sabater said. Triana, for instance, maintains a chapel with daily Masses and brings nearly 200 youth from marginalised backgrounds to the brotherhood's house in El Rocío for a summer camp. 'I'm a rociera the whole year,' said Macarena Ruíz, who started participating in the late 1980s and whose three children are camp counsellors. Despite Spain' s growing secularisation, youth remain involved in the pilgrimage, whether to maintain a family tradition, make new friends or live out their faith. This year, Triana's youth group organised Eucharistic adoration late into the second night at camp. 'That's the assurance that this will not be lost,' said Esperanza García Rivero, whose grandfather took his wagon on the pilgrimage in the 1940s. Sweat and tears before Mary, mother of God Hidden beneath the traditions and the festivities, many pilgrims are motivated by promises they made to the Virgin. After a double mastectomy for breast cancer, Paloma Maria had a large Mary tattoo designed between her shoulders. 'It's her who takes care of me. My Rocío Virgin is everything for me,' said the young woman from Cordoba. Maria Mendoza also came to give thanks when, together with García and her close Triana friends, she walked into the sanctuary Saturday after the brotherhood was formally received in front of it. More pilgrimage events awaited, culminating in Sunday night's final procession of the Rocío icon to visit every brotherhood in town. It's a massive scrum that lasts hours, after which the faithful make their long return journeys, on foot, horses and carts. But this was the first moment when the women were finally face to face with their Virgin. Tears quickly mixed with sweat and dust on their faces. 'So many thoughts swirling, for you, for your friends … it's just an explosion,' Sara de la Haza whispered. Then someone in the crowd intoned the Triana's salute to the Virgin. The friends wiped their eyes and started joyfully singing — 'You are the white dove, you are what I've loved the most since the day I was born.' ___

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