Cuban families devise ingenious solutions to endure frequent power shortages
HAVANA (AP) — For Marylín Álvarez and her family, like countless other Cubans, the question is no longer if the power will go out, but when — forcing them to implement ingenious alternatives to sustain daily life as the island undergoes its most severe energy crisis in decades.
Since December, when the government stopped supplying their cooking gas, the family had relied on an electric burner — until persistent blackouts made that solution impractical.
'The blackouts are quite severe and, with gas in short supply, I have to be running around to get food on time," said Álvarez, a 50-year-old cosmetologist living with her husband and two teenage daughters in the populous Bahía neighborhood in Havana.
But what happens when even the electricity is gone — a reality for several days a month and often for hours each day? That's when the family's ingenuity truly kicks in: with no gas and no power, they turn to their charcoal stove.
Leisure time also requires creative solutions. Álvarez's husband, Ángel Rodríguez, an auto mechanic, found a way for the family to catch up on their beloved telenovelas even during blackouts. He ingeniously assembled a television using an old laptop screen and an electric motorcycle battery.
'It doesn't last very long," Rodríguez said, 'but it's good enough for my family to watch TV or have some entertainment.'
Electricity cuts, a problem for months, have intensified in recent weeks due to persistent fuel shortages at power plants and aging infrastructure. With summer's rising demand approaching and no apparent solution in sight, families face a grim outlook.
'We do our best,' Álvarez said.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel recently acknowledged that power outages are among one of his government's biggest challenges.
In the last eight months alone, Cuba has experienced four total blackouts, plunging the entire island into darkness.
Highlighting the nation's severe energy deficit, Díaz-Canel said last week that while electricity demand soared from 2,580 megawatts in March to 3,050 in May, availability barely increased, rising only from 1,790 megawatts in March to around 1,900 these days.
The government has said that a plan to address the problem includes the installation of solar parks and repair its generators with the support from China and Russia. But little progress has been made so far.
In the meantime, Cubans must continue to find ways to navigate the crisis.
In the outskirts of Havana, 45-year-old blacksmith Edinector Vázquez is busier than ever, serving a growing clientele of less affluent families.
Vázquez makes charcoal stoves from metal scraps that he sells for around $18 — the equivalent of a Cuban state worker's monthly salary — but he says he offers discounts to low-income families.
Natividad Hernández, with slightly more resources than the Bahía neighborhood family, invested in solar panels, but her budget didn't allow for installing batteries and other components, limiting their use to daytime hours and when there's some grid electricity.
As blackouts increase, Cuba's online shopping pages are inundated with ads for rechargeable fans, lamps with chargers and charging stations — mostly imports from the United States and Panama — making them unaffordable for many.
'Lack of oil, gas, and increased electricity consumption for cooking, combined with high summer temperatures and possible hurricanes — not even a good Mexican soap opera can paint a more dramatic picture,' said Jorge Piñón, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin's Energy Institute.
According to Piñón, solving Cuba's energy crisis would require 'three to five years" and up to $8 billion.
Faced with this grim prospect, Cubans are not optimistic.
'This is difficult," said Rodríguez as he set up his rustic television and a soap opera's first images flickered to life before his family's eyes.
'The time will come when we will run out of ideas.'
____
Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
31 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Democratic governors will defend immigration policies before Republican-led House panel
WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Donald Trump spars with California's governor over immigration enforcement, Republicans in Congress are calling other Democratic governors to the Capitol on Thursday to question them over policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform posted a video ahead of the hearing highlighting crimes allegedly committed by immigrants in the U.S. illegally and pledging that 'sanctuary state governors will answer to the American people.' The hearing is to include testimony from Govs. JB Pritzker of Illinois, Tim Walz of Minnesota and Kathy Hochul of New York. There's no legal definition of a sanctuary jurisdiction, but the term generally refers to governments with policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Courts previously have upheld the legality of such laws. But Trump's administration has sued Colorado, Illinois, New York and several cities — including Chicago and Rochester, New York — asserting their policies violate the U.S. Constitution or federal law. Illinois, Minnesota and New York also were among 14 states and hundreds of cities and counties recently listed by the Department of Homeland Security as 'sanctuary jurisdictions defying federal immigration law.' The list later was removed from the department's website after criticism that it errantly included some local governments that support Trump's immigration policies. As Trump steps up immigration enforcement, some Democratic-led states have intensified their resistance by strengthening state laws restricting cooperation with immigration agents. Following clashes between crowds of protesters and immigration agents in Los Angeles, Trump deployed the National Guard to protect federal buildings and agents, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused Trump of declaring 'a war' on the underpinnings of American democracy. The House Oversight Committee has long been a partisan battleground, and in recent months it has turned its focus to immigration policy. Thursday's hearing follows a similar one in March in which the Republican-led committee questioned the Democratic mayors of Chicago, Boston, Denver and New York about sanctuary policies. Heavily Democratic Chicago has been a sanctuary city for decades. In 2017, then-Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, signed legislation creating statewide protections for immigrants. The Illinois Trust Act prohibits police from searching, arresting or detaining people solely because of their immigration status. But it allows local authorities to hold people for federal immigration authorities if there's a valid criminal warrant. Pritzker, who succeeded Rauner in 2019, said in remarks prepared for the House committee that violent criminals 'have no place on our streets, and if they are undocumented, I want them out of Illinois and out of our country.' 'But we will not divert our limited resources and officers to do the job of the federal government when it is not in the best interest of our state, our local communities, or the safety of our residents,' he said. Pritzker has been among Trump's most outspoken opponents and is considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate. He said Illinois has provided shelter and services to more than 50,000 immigrants who were sent there from other states. A Department of Justice lawsuit against New York challenges a 2019 law that allows immigrants illegally in the U.S. to receive New York driver's licenses and shields driver's license data from federal immigration authorities. That built upon a 2017 executive order by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo that prohibited New York officials from inquiring about or disclosing a person's immigration status to federal authorities, unless required by law. Hochul's office said law enforcement officers still can cooperate with federal immigration authorities when people are convicted of or under investigation for crimes. Since Hochul took office in 2021, her office said, the state has transferred more than 1,300 incarcerated noncitizens to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the completion of their state sentences. Minnesota doesn't have a statewide sanctuary law protecting immigrants in the U.S. illegally, though Minneapolis and St. Paul both restrict the extent to which police and city employees can cooperate with immigration enforcement. Some laws signed by Walz have secured benefits for people regardless of immigration status. But at least one of those is getting rolled back. The Minnesota Legislature, meeting in a special session, passed legislation Monday to repeal a 2023 law that allowed adults in the U.S. illegally to be covered under a state-run health care program for the working poor. Walz insisted on maintaining eligibility for children who aren't in the country legally, ___ Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Mo. Also contributing were Associated Press writers Anthony Izaguirre in Albany, N.Y.; Steve Karnowski in St. Paul, Minn.; and Sophia Tareen in Chicago.
Hamilton Spectator
37 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Japan and China trade blame over Chinese fighter jets flying close to Japanese planes
TOKYO (AP) — Japan and China blamed each other on Thursday after Tokyo raised concern that a Chinese fighter jet came dangerously close to Japanese reconnaissance planes. The Chinese fighter jets took off from one of two Chinese aircraft carriers that were operating together for the first time in the Pacific, Japan's Defense Ministry said. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that Japan conveyed its 'serious concern' to China that such close encounters could cause accidental collisions. According to Japan, a Chinese J-15 fighter jet took off from the Shandong aircraft carrier on Saturday and chased a Japanese P-3C aircraft on reconnaissance duty, coming within an 'abnormally close distance' of 45 meters (50 yards) for about 40 minutes. A Chinese jet also crossed 900 meters (980 yards) in front of a Japanese P-3C for about 80 minutes on Sunday, the ministry said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian defended China's activities as being fully consistent with international law and practices, and blamed Japanese vessels and airplanes for conducting close reconnaissance of China's military activities. The incidents occurred in the Pacific, where Japan's Self-Defense Force spotted the two carriers, the Shandong and the Liaoning, almost simultaneously operating near southern Japanese islands for the first time. Aircraft carriers are critical to projecting power at a distance. China routinely sends coast guard vessels, warships and warplanes around disputed East China Sea islands , but now they also reach as far as Guam, a U.S. Pacific territory with military bases. Both Chinese carriers operated in waters off Iwo Jima , about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) south of Tokyo. The Liaoning also sailed inside Japan's exclusive economic zone near Minamitorishima, the country's easternmost island, Japan's Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said. There was no violation of Japanese territorial waters, he said. ___ Associated Press writer Christopher Bodeen in Taipei, Taiwan contributed to this report. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Looking Back at Gavin Newsom's Career—and National Ambitions
California Gov. Gavin Newsom attends a press conference about President Donald Trump's tariffs, at an almond farm in Ceres, Calif., on April 16, 2025. Credit - Noah Berger—AP President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom's clash over the deployment of federal troops in Los Angeles has escalated a longstanding feud between the two to new heights—and may be setting the stage for a bigger political battle come 2028. The recent standoff has brightened the spotlight on Newsom, who was already considered a leading contender for the Democratic nomination in the next presidential election after building up his national profile with major policy moves and confrontations with Republicans. Since becoming Governor in 2019, Newsom has embraced his role as the top official of the most populous U.S. state, which often leads the country in implementing progressive policies. The 57-year-old has been assertive in his opposition to the Trump Administration, most recently challenging federal 'border czar' Tom Homan to arrest him after Homan indicated he would detain anybody who interferes with federal immigration actions. 'Democracy is under assault before our eyes,' Newsom said in an emphatic public address Tuesday evening. 'This moment we have feared has arrived.' Here's what to know about the Governor's political career so far and what it could signal about a potential future campaign for the White House. Newsom garnered national attention shortly after becoming San Francisco's mayor—the city's youngest in more than a century—when he gave the green light to issue municipal marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Feb. 12, 2004, more than a decade before same-sex marriage was legalized across the country. Newsom had been mayor for just one month at the time, after previously serving on the city's Parking and Traffic Commission and Board of Supervisors. He first entered government in 1996 after beginning his career as a well-connected businessman. His order at City Hall defied both the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act—a federal law that defined marriage as between a woman and a man—and a state law approved by voters in 2000 that did the same thing. Newsom's attempt to bring marriage equality to San Francisco came after Massachusetts became the first state in the country to legalize same-sex marriage after its Supreme Judicial Court's November 2003 decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health. The move drew controversy, however, including from Democratic Party leadership, as well as legal challenges, as public support at the time was still divided. After more than 4,000 same-sex couples were married, the California Supreme Court ruled the licenses void. The legal battle over marriage equality in the state was not resolved until the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling. Near the end of his second term as mayor, in April 2009, Newsom announced on Twitter that he planned to run for Governor. But he pulled out of the race just six months later as it became clear former Gov. Jerry Brown was the clear frontrunner. In March 2010, Newsom announced that he would instead seek the office of lieutenant governor, and he beat his Republican challenger by more than 10% of the vote in the November election. The California politician continued to prove his boundary-pushing progressive bona fides in his support of Proposition 64, a state ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana that passed in 2016. When the first-term Trump Administration later threatened to potentially crack down on such laws, Newsom issued a letter urging the federal government to work with states like his. 'We can't continue to keep doing what we've done and expect a different result,' he wrote to the President. 'The government must not strip the legal and publicly supported industry of its business, and hand it back to drug cartels and criminals.' In addition to marijuana legalization, Newsom staked out progressive positions on issues including capital punishment, supporting an unsuccessful proposition to ban it, and gun control, supporting a successful proposition to require background checks for purchasers of ammunition and to prohibit possession of high-capacity magazines. But throughout and even before Newsom's first tenure in Sacramento, he made clear his frustration with the limits of the lieutenant governorship. And as early as 2015, just after his reelection in the role, he announced his intention to run for the state's top job in 2018, to succeed Brown who was in his final term. 'I've never been a fan of pretense or procrastination. After all, our state is defined by its independent, outspoken spirit. When Californians see something we truly believe in, we say so and act accordingly—without evasiveness or equivocation,' he posted on Facebook. 'I make this promise—this won't be an ordinary campaign—but, then again, California has always been an extraordinary place.' Newsom was elected in a landslide and took office in January 2019. In his first year as Governor, he signed a flurry of laws, from requiring public colleges to offer abortion medication to banning smoking on state parks and beaches. He also increasingly put the Golden State on a collision course with Trump, who was well into his first term as President. Newsom called Trump's plans to build a border wall as part of a national emergency a 'national disgrace,' accusing the President of 'manufacturing a crisis' at the border. And he lashed out at the Administration for trying to reverse the state's strict auto emissions standards. Tensions escalated in 2019 following the Administration's attempt to alter existing pumping regulations to increase the supply and delivery of water to Central Valley farmers, which Newsom criticized on environmental grounds. In 2020, Newsom tackled a record-setting wildfire season that saw nearly 9,000 fires burn that year, according to Cal Fire. A state of emergency request for disaster relief aid was initially rejected by the Trump Administration because it 'was not supported by the relevant data that States must provide for approval,' White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere wrote in an October 2020 statement, but it was approved hours after the rejection following a phone call between Trump and Newsom. Despite their historic hostility, Trump and Newsom praised each other at times in relation to cooperation on the fires and the Covid-19 pandemic—during the latter, in March 2020, Trump called Newsom 'terrific' and said 'We're getting along really well.' But the friendship wouldn't last long. A special recall election put Newsom's position at risk in 2021 as voters expressed ire over his policies on immigration, homelessness, and the death penalty. Newsom eventually survived that election with 62% of the vote, though Republicans, including Trump, called the results 'rigged.' Newsom was reelected by a 59% margin in November 2022. But despite his popularity in the heavily Democratic state, Newsom's governorship has continued to hit snags. The state's crime rate rose in 2023 compared to nationwide figures, though it went down last year; homelessness in the state reached a record-high in 2024; and in 2025, by one measure, California was ranked the most expensive state to live in. Further recall efforts have been initiated, including a campaign launched earlier this year by the organization Saving California, whose leader Randy Economy was the spokesperson and organizer of the failed 'People's Recall' campaign in 2021. The new effort has until Sept. 4 to collect more than 1.3 million signatures to trigger a special election. Newsom silenced talk of a presidential run in 2024 and instead threw his support behind President Joe Biden's reelection and later the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris. Still, Newsom didn't shy from the national spotlight. In November 2023, he debated Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Fox News, an event that felt to many like a preview of 2028. 'I'm not there running for reelection as Governor. I'm not running for President, either,' said Newsom shortly before the debate. 'I'm going to defend Biden, for better or worse, rich or poor, 'til death do me part.' In February 2024, the California Governor ran a television ad in Tennessee in a fight against abortion travel bans. 'Don't let them hold Tennessee women hostage,' the voiceover in the advertisement says, referring to 'Trump Republicans.' The campaign highlighted Democrats' key promise that they would defend abortion rights. Following Biden's troubling debate performance against Trump in June 2024, as calls for the then-President to drop out of the race mounted, Newsom was floated as a potential replacement candidate, but he again shot down any entertainment of the idea and publicly stood by Biden before ultimately endorsing fellow Californian Harris after Biden withdrew himself. Despite his decision not to run for president in 2024, Newsom is widely believed to be setting the stage for a potential 2028 campaign. The Governor, who is term-limited and set to leave office in January 2027, has taken steps, observers have noticed, to try to appeal to a broader base while also seeking to raise his profile as a foil to the current President. In February, he launched a podcast, 'This is Gavin Newsom,' on which he has hosted high-profile figures in the MAGA world, including former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and right-wing activist and media personality Charlie Kirk. On policy, he has diverged from other Democrats by pushing for the clearing of homeless encampments and proposing limits on healthcare benefits for undocumented immigrants. He also broke with his history of progressive stances on LGBTQ+ issues when he announced that he thought the presence of transgender athletes in women's sports was 'deeply unfair.' At the same time, building on his past battles with the Trump Administration, Newsom has positioned himself as a leading opponent of the Republican President. Following Trump's reelection, Newsom convened a special session of the California legislature with the stated goal of safeguarding the state against potential 'federal overreach' from the incoming Administration. He and Trump locked horns again not long after the President returned to office when Trump blamed California's water management practices for deadly wildfires in Los Angeles. And their contentious relationship has broken out into even more open conflict in the past week as Trump has deployed National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles in response to protests over immigration raids despite Newsom's opposition to the federal intervention. Newsom has condemned the President as 'dictatorial' and filed a lawsuit against the Administration over the military mobilization. In his address Tuesday, Newsom warned the nation that the situation in Southern California is 'about all of us.' 'This isn't just about protests here in Los Angeles. When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that order apply to every state,' he said. 'California may be first, but it clearly will not end here,' Newsom added. 'Other states are next. Democracy is next.' Contact us at letters@
