Latest news with #MiguelDíaz-Canel
NBC News
16-03-2025
- Business
- NBC News
Millions in Cuba without electricity after substation failure
HAVANA — Millions of people in Cuba remained without power Saturday after a failure of the nation's electric grid left the island in the dark the previous night. The massive blackout is the fourth in the last six months as a severe economic crisis plagues the Caribbean country. The Ministry of Energy and Mines, in a statement on social media, attributed the latest outage to a failure at a substation in the suburbs of Havana, the capital. Internet and telephone service were intermittent about Saturday evening after power went out around 8 p.m. local time Friday. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on his X account that authorities are 'working intensely to restore stability' to the power system. Lázaro Guerra, director of electricity at the ministry, said on national television that power was already being generated to support vital services such as hospitals. A statement from the Cuban Electricity Union released Saturday said the strategy was to create 'microsystems' that will connect to each other to gradually restore electricity across the country. Several of these were already operating in the provinces of Guantánamo, Santiago, Las Tunas and Pinar del Río. In Sancti Spíritus, the provincial energy company reported on its Telegram channel that more than 200,000 customers in that area had electricity thanks to these microsystems. Many Cuban families use electric equipment to prepare their meals. The outage could cause food to thaw in refrigerators and possibly spoil due to the island's tropical climate. 'When I was about to start cooking and making some spaghetti, the power went out. 'And now what?' Cecilia Duquense, a 79-year-old housewife who lives in the working-class neighborhood of Central Havana, said Saturday. In Havana, people were shopping for food Saturday. Businesses were open, although some were operating using batteries or small home generators. 'We are very worried that the food will go bad' in the refrigerator if the blackout lasts much longer, said Frank García, a 26-year-old marker worker in Havana. Gas stations were also open, but the tunnel that runs under Havana Bay and connects the city to the outskirts was dark. Cuba suffered similar blackouts in October, November and December. The latest was the first of 2025 but in mid-February authorities suspended classes and work activities for two days due to a shortage of electricity generation that exceeded 50% in the country. Experts have said the electricity disruptions are a result of fuel shortages at power plants and aging infrastructure. Most plants have been in operation for more than 30 years. The outages come as Cubans are experiencing a severe economic crisis that analysts have blamed on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, a program of domestic measures that triggered inflation and, above all, the tightening of sanctions by the United States.
Chicago Tribune
15-03-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Cuba suffers major power outage after substation failure leaves millions without electricity
HAVANA — Millions of people in Cuba remained without power Saturday after a failure of the nation's electric grid left the island in the dark the previous night. The massive blackout is the fourth in the last six months as a severe economic crisis plagues the Caribbean country. The Ministry of Energy and Mines, in a statement on social media, attributed the latest outage to a failure at a substation in the suburbs of Havana, the capital. Internet and telephone service were intermittent about Saturday evening after power went out around 8 p.m. local time Friday. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on his X account that authorities are 'working intensely to restore stability' to the power system. Lázaro Guerra, director of electricity at the ministry, said on national television that power was already being generated to support vital services such as hospitals. A statement from the Cuban Electricity Union released Saturday said the strategy was to create 'microsystems' that will connect to each other to gradually restore electricity across the country. Several of these were already operating in the provinces of Guantánamo, Santiago, Las Tunas and Pinar del Río. In Sancti Spíritus, the provincial energy company reported on its Telegram channel that more than 200,000 customers in that area had electricity thanks to these microsystems. Many Cuban families use electric equipment to prepare their meals. The outage could cause food to thaw in refrigerators and possibly spoil due to the island's tropical climate. 'When I was about to start cooking and making some spaghetti, the power went out. 'And now what?' Cecilia Duquense, a 79-year-old housewife who lives in the working-class neighborhood of Central Havana, said Saturday. In Havana, people were shopping for food Saturday. Businesses were open, although some were operating using batteries or small home generators. 'We are very worried that the food will go bad' in the refrigerator if the blackout lasts much longer, said Frank García, a 26-year-old marker worker in Havana. Gas stations were also open, but the tunnel that runs under Havana Bay and connects the city to the outskirts was dark. Cuba suffered similar blackouts in October, November and December. The latest was the first of 2025 but in mid-February authorities suspended classes and work activities for two days due to a shortage of electricity generation that exceeded 50% in the country. Experts have said the electricity disruptions are a result of fuel shortages at power plants and aging infrastructure. Most plants have been in operation for more than 30 years. The outages come as Cubans are experiencing a severe economic crisis that analysts have blamed on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a program of domestic measures that triggered inflation and, above all, the tightening of sanctions by the United States.
The Guardian
30-01-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump plan to open migrant detention centre at Guantánamo Bay an ‘act of brutality', Cuban president says
Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the latest news from US politics. First up, the Cuban president has described President Trump's announcement of plans for a migrant detention facility at Guantánamo Bay as an 'act of brutality'. Writing on X, Miguel Díaz-Canel said the move would place people deported from the US 'next to well-known prisons of torture and illegal detention'. On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order instructing officials to prepare a facility capable of holding 30,000 people at the naval base, which over the past two decades has been used primarily to hold suspects accused of terrorism-related offences, with few ever charged or convicted. Trump said the new facility would be used to 'detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people'. Stay with us for more on that announcement and all the day's developments. Share
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Opinion - The tragic reality of Cuba's medical brigades. The US must lead the charge against them.
With Marco Rubio's unanimous confirmation as secretary of State, now is the time to stand up to Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel. Rubio has a history of standing up to the Cuban regime while in the Senate, there is no reason he won't continue to do so in his new position. In fact, the Trump administration has already reinstated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. January marks National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and it's important to remember that modern slavery comes in different forms. In 2008, Ramona Matos Rodriguez, a family medicine physician from Cuba, was sent to work in San Agustin, Bolivia, a small town in the Amazons. Her passport was seized by a Cuban security agent at the airport. She was not allowed to possess any other identifying documents, and she and her fellow doctors were forced to fill out paperwork with false statistics about made-up patients or else face retribution from the Cuban regime. Matos was one of thousands of medical personnel trafficked abroad into forced labor — all for the profit of the Cuban regime. Cuba has a long history of sending its armed forces and medical personnel to foreign countries under the guise of 'aid.' Fidel Castro sought to export his brand of revolutionary violence across Latin America — as in the failed 'invasion' of Bolivia by Castro's associate, Che Guevara. Cuba's communist regime also has a long history of sending military advisors and troops to prop up dictators, advance authoritarian parties, and attack democratically elected governments in Angola, Mozambique, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Yemen, Algeria, Syria and elsewhere. The other tragic but less-known human capital export of Cuba is its so-called 'Medical Brigades.' Havana has sent tens of thousands of medical workers around the world since the 1960s, from poverty-stricken African nations to Portugal and Italy. Undoubtedly, in most cases, these medical professionals do provide needed health care in often difficult environments. But the regime's reason for sending them is not really about spreading the 'good news' of communist brotherhood. Rather, it is financial: the Cuban regime makes a major profit from these programs. Cuban medical professionals are lured with promises of travel, independence and excellent pay, but these promises often turn out to be a façade. As reported by the BBC, many of these medical workers are asked to spy on their associates and are exploited while receiving just a fraction of their wages. Numerous workers have reported unsafe conditions, violence and regime officials taking their passports, forcing them to comply if they want to return to Cuba. Combined with meager pay and often explicit threats against them and their families back home, they are isolated and vulnerable. While the Cuban regime may want the world to see its medical brigades as a noble humanitarian effort like the Peace Corps or an organization like Doctors Without Borders, we know that this program is far closer to indentured servitude. That's because while many of these medical professionals may have volunteered, their employers wield an immense amount of power over them during their tenure. Because their pay, passports and medical licenses are often held by the Cuban embassy, they aren't able to travel and are forced to continue working in unsafe conditions. Additionally, these doctors and their families are, in a very real sense, held hostage. Once abroad, they are cowed into silence and bullied by implicit or explicit threats to themselves or their family members back home. This is not humanitarian work or even public diplomacy. These Cuban citizens thought they were going to use their skills to help people and instead, they are surveilled, asked to spy, deprived of their right to travel, and restricted from privately communicating with family. All of this to bring profits and positive publicity to the communist elite back in Cuba. The first duty of any government is to protect its citizens, but Cuba's communist regime violates this obligation every day. Those doctors and nurses have taken an oath to 'do no harm,' and they should not have to fear harm at the hands of their own leaders. A bipartisan resolution introduced in the House last Congress denounces the Cuban regime for profiteering by forcibly sending its medical personnel abroad. This resolution also condemns the Pan American Health Organization and other government officials for their role in facilitating and perpetuating human trafficking and calls on the executive branch to utilize existing visa revocation authorities on the responsible parties. Foreign officials who violate international agreements and traffic human beings must be held accountable for their actions. It is time for nations around the world to tell Cuba that its medical professionals should not be exploited, abused or threatened — and the U.S. should lead the charge. Mark Green represents Tennessee's 7th District. Eric Patterson, Ph.D., is president and CEO of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
29-01-2025
- Health
- The Hill
The tragic reality of Cuba's medical brigades. The US must lead the charge against them.
With Marco Rubio's unanimous confirmation as secretary of State, now is the time to stand up to Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel. Rubio has a history of standing up to the Cuban regime while in the Senate, there is no reason he won't continue to do so in his new position. In fact, the Trump administration has already reinstated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. January marks National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and it's important to remember that modern slavery comes in different forms. In 2008, Ramona Matos Rodriguez, a family medicine physician from Cuba, was sent to work in San Agustin, Bolivia, a small town in the Amazons. Her passport was seized by a Cuban security agent at the airport. She was not allowed to possess any other identifying documents, and she and her fellow doctors were forced to fill out paperwork with false statistics about made-up patients or else face retribution from the Cuban regime. Matos was one of thousands of medical personnel trafficked abroad into forced labor — all for the profit of the Cuban regime. Cuba has a long history of sending its armed forces and medical personnel to foreign countries under the guise of 'aid.' Fidel Castro sought to export his brand of revolutionary violence across Latin America — as in the failed 'invasion' of Bolivia by Castro's associate, Che Guevara. Cuba's communist regime also has a long history of sending military advisors and troops to prop up dictators, advance authoritarian parties, and attack democratically elected governments in Angola, Mozambique, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Yemen, Algeria, Syria and elsewhere. The other tragic but less-known human capital export of Cuba is its so-called 'Medical Brigades.' Havana has sent tens of thousands of medical workers around the world since the 1960s, from poverty-stricken African nations to Portugal and Italy. Undoubtedly, in most cases, these medical professionals do provide needed health care in often difficult environments. But the regime's reason for sending them is not really about spreading the 'good news' of communist brotherhood. Rather, it is financial: the Cuban regime makes a major profit from these programs. Cuban medical professionals are lured with promises of travel, independence and excellent pay, but these promises often turn out to be a façade. As reported by the BBC, many of these medical workers are asked to spy on their associates and are exploited while receiving just a fraction of their wages. Numerous workers have reported unsafe conditions, violence and regime officials taking their passports, forcing them to comply if they want to return to Cuba. Combined with meager pay and often explicit threats against them and their families back home, they are isolated and vulnerable. While the Cuban regime may want the world to see its medical brigades as a noble humanitarian effort like the Peace Corps or an organization like Doctors Without Borders, we know that this program is far closer to indentured servitude. That's because while many of these medical professionals may have volunteered, their employers wield an immense amount of power over them during their tenure. Because their pay, passports and medical licenses are often held by the Cuban embassy, they aren't able to travel and are forced to continue working in unsafe conditions. Additionally, these doctors and their families are, in a very real sense, held hostage. Once abroad, they are cowed into silence and bullied by implicit or explicit threats to themselves or their family members back home. This is not humanitarian work or even public diplomacy. These Cuban citizens thought they were going to use their skills to help people and instead, they are surveilled, asked to spy, deprived of their right to travel, and restricted from privately communicating with family. All of this to bring profits and positive publicity to the communist elite back in Cuba. The first duty of any government is to protect its citizens, but Cuba's communist regime violates this obligation every day. Those doctors and nurses have taken an oath to 'do no harm,' and they should not have to fear harm at the hands of their own leaders. A bipartisan resolution introduced in the House last Congress denounces the Cuban regime for profiteering by forcibly sending its medical personnel abroad. This resolution also condemns the Pan American Health Organization and other government officials for their role in facilitating and perpetuating human trafficking and calls on the executive branch to utilize existing visa revocation authorities on the responsible parties. Foreign officials who violate international agreements and traffic human beings must be held accountable for their actions. It is time for nations around the world to tell Cuba that its medical professionals should not be exploited, abused or threatened — and the U.S. should lead the charge.
