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The energy crisis hitting Cuba continues to deepen and is now strongly affecting the Isle of Youth.
Through a statement published on Facebook, the official broadcaster Radio Caribe announced that, "following the directives of the highest leadership of the country and the region," a set of restrictive measures will be implemented to address the shortage of fuel and the collapse of the electric power system.
The text acknowledges a "complex situation" with fuel supplies and announces power outages of up to four hours within each 24-hour block, under the scheme known as 4×4.
However, if necessary, "it will increase the impact depending on fuel inventories."
In the Cocodrilo community, the blackout will be fixed between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm.
The provisions are not limited to electricity.
The regime ordered adjustments to work hours, to keep only "essential administrative staff," and to implement remote work wherever possible.
It also decreed the "complete shutdown of electricity service in administrative buildings" during Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Public transport takes another hit.
The main routes - Gerona-La Fe, Gerona-La Demajagua, and Gerona-Argelia-Victoria - will open and close depending on fuel availability. In Cocodrilo, the service will be reduced to once a week.
Additionally, "the departure of the Ferri Perseverancia is valued once or twice a week," provided there is sufficient diesel and a connection with Batabanó.
The impact extends to commerce, education, and daily life.
The warehouses will adjust their hours according to the blackouts. Recreational areas and bars will not open until the fuel supplies are restored.
In education, the internal centers will remain closed and students will be sent home "until normalcy is restored."
"One hundred percent of the investments in the region, including the electricity company, agriculture, fishing, among others, are being halted," the post details.
The statement also reveals an increase in political and administrative control.
It has been ordered to enhance collaboration with media outlets and political and mass organizations to "promote savings awareness," permanently disconnect electric ovens and climate control equipment, and hold "daily energy meetings" to analyze consumption and "detected violations."
Directors are even threatened directly: "Each director will be responsible for the strict compliance with the measures... in case of non-compliance, their electricity service will be cut off."
While the regime speaks of "savings" and "awareness," the reality is that these measures confirm the failure of a model that has left the country without energy, without transportation, and without basic living conditions.
The population suffers from power outages lasting over 20 hours, food shortages, productive paralysis, and increasingly stifling surveillance, while policymakers continue to provide no real solutions.
All of this happens after Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged that Cuba returned to the hardest years of the Special Period.
In a lengthy televised speech, the leader admitted that since December 2025, Venezuelan oil has not been arriving on the Island and that the energy crisis is "severe" and without immediate resolution.
"We have a complex energy situation," he said, adding that the country will need to implement "restrictive" measures to address the fuel shortage and "promote savings" to sustain basic activities.
The plan revisits the so-called "zero option" devised by Fidel Castro, now updated for the new context.
The regime tries to justify the collapse by blaming external factors and appealing to the eternal sacrifice of the people, but the reality is that the current situation is the result of decades of dependency, mismanagement, corruption, and lack of investment.
Obsolete thermoelectric plants, agriculture without diesel, and an almost paralyzed industry are not the fault of the citizens, but rather a result of a system that has failed to ensure the most basic necessities: electricity, food, and transportation.
In the Isle of Youth, as in the rest of the country, the new restrictions are not a solution but another symptom of an exhausted model that only knows how to respond to the crisis with more control, more cuts, and more speeches, while the people survive in the dark.
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