The U.S. Embassy in Cuba will provide only emergency services due to power outages in Havana

The United States Embassy in Cuba announced that it will only provide emergency services due to the blackouts that have been affecting Havana since before Hurricane Rafael.

According to the information shared on their Twitter account, the office will be closed on November 11 for Veterans Day.

In addition, it will only provide emergency services to U.S. citizens from November 12 to 15, "due to the current instability of the national power grid and recovery efforts following Hurricane Rafael."

There will also be no routine services for U.S. citizens, visas, or other appointments; these will be automatically rescheduled.

For emergency assistance, U.S. citizens can write to ACSHavana@state.gov or call +(53) (7) 839-4100; after hours, dial 1, then 0. For any questions regarding visas, please contact VisasHavana@state.gov.

The diplomatic office reminded American citizens of the emergency contacts:

U.S. Embassy in Havana: +(53) (7) 839-4100. And Consular Affairs: +1-888-407-4747 or +1-202-501-4444.

More than 24 hours after Hurricane Rafael left Cuba, Havana remains in the dark, with much of the city still without electricity.

"We are at 15.1% recovery," said the Electric Company in a statement released this Friday.

The country experienced a massive blackout on Wednesday afternoon when, although Rafael had not yet made landfall, the Electric Union announced that strong winds had caused a disconnection of the National Electric System and that "contingency protocols" would be implemented.

On October 15th, new requirements for immigrant visa interviews came into effect at the Embassy to "streamline the visa process and ensure that all documents are in order before the interview," according to official information.

In August, the office announced a significant expansion of its consular services, specifically regarding the issuance of certain types of visas to the United States that had not been processed at that location since 2017.

They are visas that support academic, educational, and cultural exchanges, as well as athletes, individuals with extraordinary abilities, or members of religious groups.

The expansion did not include B-1 business visas or B-2 tourist visas, which are still not available through the U.S. Embassy in Havana.