Díaz-Canel: “We must prepare for shortages in the second half of this month”

President Miguel Díaz-Canel announced this Wednesday that Cuba's serious energy situation will imply emergency measures to mitigate its possible effects on the population, and admitted that the effects will be felt more harshly in the coming weeks.

Díaz-Canel appeared this Wednesday night in a special edition of the Cuban Television Roundtable to analyze the country's energy crisis and announce the measures they will take in what he described as a "conjunctural situation."

But he denied that the country was facing a "Special Period" situation, the acute economic crisis that hit the island after the collapse of the socialist camp and the loss of Soviet subsidies in the early 1990s.

In his speech, surrounded by his cabinet ministers, he did not hesitate to blame “Yankee imperialism” for the shortcomings facing the country, although he insisted that the situation is purely energy and not supply: “We have ships of cereals, grains , and other essential provisions for the population, that no one wants to present a scenario of shortages because it is not real."

However, his announced appearance today at the Round Table, together with Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa and several ministers from different areas, was intended to announce the fuel shortage that the country will face starting in the second half of September.

“We have certain shortages in some fuels, and I could see it today when I was going from home to the Palace, I saw our stops a little more congested than usual,” he said.

Trying to dispel alarms about the imminent energy crisis, Díaz-Canel warned that "what we have to endure is a few days", since until September 14 "fuel will not enter" the country, but he assured that supplies are guaranteed from October.

According to the president, the main problem today is that the arrival of new oil shipments could not be negotiated in time to satisfy national demand, and overcome the “tie”, that is, supply the fuel tanks at the time when the current reservation runs out.

“Right now we have not been getting oil for several days, and that has to be said because it is going to be felt,” said Díaz-Canel.

The president pointed out that the next oil tanker is expected to arrive on September 14, although he joked: "We will not say where it comes from, so that our enemies do not intercept it."

He assured that at least until next Sunday there are no scheduled blackouts, and that everything possible will be done to avoid them, although he mentioned that if they occur, a timely information plan for the population will be put into practice.

Consequently, the president said that the Cuban people must develop awareness of savings and austerity while this situation lasts. In addition, he asked that solidarity be multiplied: "If there is no public transportation, it is necessary for state cars to pick up people at stops, so that they do not leave empty," and mentioned that "animal traction" can be a good option to alleviate the crisis.

Among the most affected sectors, according to the president of the Councils of State and Ministers, will be public transportation, electricity generation and food distribution, which could be summarized as lack of transportation and food, and intensification of blackouts.

Among the causes of these “certain shortcomings” mentioned very superficially, are, according to Díaz-Canel, “the plans of imperialism” to provoke a social outbreak, the implementation of the Helms-Burton law, the limitation on the sending of remittances from abroad , and threats to other nations to stop trading with Cuba.

“This does not respond to the lack of management or inability of the Cuban government,” said Díaz-Canel. “The Cuban people are very happy, but if they have any suffering it is the fault of the blockade.”

In an attempt to calm things down, the Cuban leader highlighted that Cuba currently produces almost 40% of the oil, and 48% of what the national electrical system needs, a reason, according to him, for there to be no “alarmism or lamentations.” unnecessary.”

To prove it, he remembered that “people they had (sic) a good summer” in reference to the fact that the existence of long-term blackouts was limited as much as possible.

Asked by moderator Randy Alonso Falcón about whether Cubans should expect another “Special Period,” Díaz-Canel could not be more doubtful in his refusal: “Because of the way we are preparing, I do not believe that another scenario like that should occur in the country".