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If there is one thing that cannot be denied about the Cuban regime, it is its sustained "optimism" and "hardness" of face in promising the same things repeatedly, asking for faith and trust from the people while continuing to stumble over similar obstacles that it creates itself, all while the country falls apart and the lives of generations are cut short.
The Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant in Matanzas, synchronized this Friday with the National Electro-Energetic System (SEN) at 10:35 AM, four days after experiencing a boiler puncture, and the occasion was used to announce once again that this year the long-promised general maintenance will indeed take place, as reported by the journalist from the official station Radio 26, José Miguel Solís.
The plant had gone offline last Monday at 3:00 AM while generating 170 megawatts, which caused electricity deficits to reach nearly 1,900 megawatts in the following days, leaving millions of Cubans facing extended blackouts.
To achieve the reconnection, engineer Román Pérez Castañeda, director of the unified block, explained to Radio 26 that more than 400 corrective actions were undertaken, including "the restoration of the high-temperature reheater—a highly deteriorated component—and the cleaning of the regenerative air heaters," Solís detailed. With these fixes, Guiteras, the main generating unit on the Island, can contribute approximately 200 megawatts to the National Electrical System.
And here comes the well-known (and thus, laughable) part: the government plan anticipates that this year there will be "general maintenance of the unit that would extend for about six months, with repairs to the boiler, generator, and turbine, which would allow it to reach a power output close to 280 megawatts, improve efficiency, and remain online for much longer."
Sounds good. The problem is that they had promised it before. And even before that.
In September 2025, President Miguel Díaz-Canel described that general maintenance as "urgent". In December of that year, the minister of the sector, Vicente de la O Levy, postponed that major repair citing a situational problem. In March 2026, a new massive blackout occurred due to another failure in the boiler of the aging unit.
"If the deadlines are met, this 2026 could bode well for the central in Matanzas," the journalist from Radio 26 stated "candidly." The small problem with "the deadlines" set by the Cuban government is that they are never met. Or, to put it humorously in Island style, they are like the story of "The Good Pipe": an endless chain.
The obsolescence and deterioration of the SEN, as specialists have pointed out, would require a comprehensive reconstruction at a cost of billions of dollars over several years to stabilize the electrical service in the country. These are not exactly "good omens," to say the least.
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