Cuba without power but with propaganda: Regime spends fuel and resources on the "caravan of freedom"

In the midst of a day marked by blackouts for almost the entire duration and a generation crisis exacerbated by a lack of fuel and breakdowns in several thermoelectric plants, the official Cuban press promoted on January 7th the republication of the so-called "Caravan of Freedom" with political-cultural events and transportation via military means.

The event was presented as a historical commemoration —including a republication in Cienfuegos, at the José Martí park— while the Electric Union (UNE) reported a severe deficit scenario in the National Electric System (SEN) that would cause service interruptions lasting for hours.

The "Caravana de la Libertad" was reissued in Cienfuegos as a gesture of support for the "historical legacy" of the Revolution, and the commemoration also condemned the "unjust aggressions" of the U.S. against Venezuela and the "kidnapping" of Nicolás Maduro.

In addition, the note states that participants left on a military truck from the vicinity of the old Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba to retrace the route to Havana.

All of this happened while the UNE reported that on Tuesday the maximum impact reached 1,710 MW and that this Wednesday, early in the morning, the deficit returned: at 6:30 a.m. the availability was 1,550 MW against a demand of 2,040 MW, resulting in a deficit of 520 MW, and for peak hours, a demand of 3,200 MW was projected with the same availability, which would leave a deficit of 1,650 MW and an estimated impact of 1,680 MW.

The UNE detailed that the incidents included breakdowns in units from the CTE Mariel, Nuevitas, Felton, and Antonio Maceo, as well as blocks under maintenance in Santa Cruz and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes (Cienfuegos).

The thermal generation had 560 MW out of service, and simultaneously, issues related to fuel persisted: 100 distributed generation plants were reported with 877 MW affected, plus an additional 150 MW unavailable due to a lack of lubricant, resulting in a total of 1,027 MW out of service for that reason.

Although the 34 new photovoltaic solar parks contributed 3,062 MWh (with a maximum capacity of 649 MW), the official report itself acknowledged that it was not enough to offset the chronic deficit.

In Havana, the Electric Company also reported interruptions of 7 hours and 46 minutes, with a peak of 196 MW, and acknowledged that "the announced schedule could not be met" due to low availability.