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The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric power plant is making headlines again, and not exactly for its efficiency.
Once again, the boiler of the iconic power plant has decided to take a break, reducing its generation to less than half of its capacity, as indicated by the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE) on its .
While the Guiteras boiler cools down, the pressure cooker of Cuban society continues to build heat.
With a National Electric System (SEN) that barely manages to stay afloat amidst breakdowns and fuel shortages, blackouts have now become part of the island's "intangible heritage".
This Monday, the UNE is once again "cooking up" another discouraging report: the day before, there were outages lasting 24 hours (a classic by now), and for the current day, outages are forecasted to exceed 1,500 MW during peak hours.
The state-owned company led by Alfredo López Valdés is quite the expert at serving up bad news with indifference and blandness. However, the recipe is simple: less electricity means more blackouts. And more blackouts lead to more desperation.
La Guiteras, with its already chronic history of "boiler problems", not only symbolizes the collapse of the energy system but also the growing discontent of a population that no longer knows when it will be able to cook, work, or simply endure the heat.
But, what does it all matter to the tenants of the Palace? According to the government of Miguel Díaz-Canel, "intensive work" is being carried out on the repair of the boiler and on the recovery of damaged units.
But clearly, if the UNE has proven anything, it is its efficiency in promising solutions and its consistency in repeating crises. Meanwhile, in Cuban households, electric stoves serve as decorations and fans are an intermittent luxury.
The "pressure cooker" that Cuba has become continues to accumulate tension, while the regime advances its government program, consisting of a series of communist slogans intended to mask the neoliberal essence of a “package” that increases scarcity, prices, inflation, inequality, and the outrage of Cubans.
Vicente de la O Levy and his leaders in the regime's upper echelons must believe that the reports from the UNE distract from the discontent of the Cubans, presenting the spectacle of a dance of figures, megawatts, and units coming and going.
Just as they decide to continue feeding the Guiteras with domestic crude—despite the damage it causes to its already old and patched boiler—they believe they can keep heating an empty "pressure cooker," unaware that, at some point, when they least expect it, it could explode.
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