Blackouts increase in Cuba after May Day events

The Cuban regime reported this Thursday an increase in blackouts since the morning of May Day, with effects lasting more than 18 hours.

Engineer Lázaro Guerra Hernández, technical director of the Unión Eléctrica, said in statements to the national television that the service began to be affected from 9:30 am on May 1 until 2:23 am on May 2.

During that time there was a maximum impact of 464 MW at 8 pm, which coincided with the time of greatest demand.

For this Thursday the power outages they restarted in the morning and it is estimated that the impact will be greater than yesterday.

During peak hours, at least 595 MW will be missing, because there are five units out of service, the Santa Cruz Thermoelectric Plant stopped due to a breakdown and the remaining four are under maintenance.

Guerra Hernández stressed that although there is a deficit due to the shortage of fuel and the units under maintenance, the work carried out in these plants is necessary with a view to the months of July and August, when demand increases much more.

"Now is the opportunity to do this maintenance so that when consumption rises in the summer the units have the least impact," he said.

However, many Cubans claim that the power outages began "coincidentally" after the May Day parades across the island.

"We already marched and the blackouts returned," lamented one, indicating that the regime guaranteed hours of electricity to minimize popular discontent and for people to go to the squares.

The government later reported that four million Cubans had participated in the parades, where only slogans and no complaints were shown, despite the low salaries and the rampant inflation on the island, where 30 eggs cost the same as a minimum wage.