The Minister of Energy and Mines of Cuba, Vicente de la O Levy, stated this Wednesday during the official program Mesa Redonda that, if it were not for the U.S. embargo, "the reduction of blackouts would have been extraordinary," while also describing the damage caused by the embargo as "brutal" to the country's energy life.
The statement was made during an appearance in which the official reviewed the status of the National Electroenergetic System (SEN), the refining of Russian fuel, and the energy transition strategy, at a time of relative but fragile relief for the island.
The minister explained that at the end of November 2024, the Political Bureau assessed the complex energy situation and decided to include a comprehensive recovery strategy for the SEN in the government program, focusing on self-sufficient solutions and maximizing the use of available resources.
That program was approved at the Council of Ministers and began to be implemented in January 2025, with several lines of action aimed at increasing electricity generation and recovering installed capacities.
One of the most notable outcomes was the growth of distributed generation, which increased from just 350 megawatts available to over 1,000 megawatts by the end of 2025, even though Cuba has around 3,000 megawatts installed in diesel engines and fuel oil.
De la O Levy pointed out that the main cause of this low availability was the lack of spare parts and the financial limitations to acquire them, a structural problem that the regime has failed to resolve for decades.
In terms of renewable energy, Cuba began 2025 with a participation of around 3% within its electrical matrix and concluded the year with approximately 10%, an increase of seven percentage points in twelve months that the minister deemed very significant for any power system.
The third unit of the Céspedes thermoelectric plant and the fifth unit of the Renté power station in Santiago de Cuba have also been reactivated, although the official acknowledged delays in the fourth unit of Céspedes due to planning errors and maintenance deficiencies.
Between the end of December 2025 and January 2026, the government protected 631 electrical circuits across the national territory, which required more than 800 megawatts, to support productive sectors such as agricultural irrigation and tobacco production, to the detriment of residential consumption.
The minister acknowledged that this decision affected Cuban households, but justified it as a necessary balance to prevent greater economic paralysis. "If we don’t produce more, we also won’t earn," he stated.
The context in which the appearance took place is one of partial relief driven by the arrival of the Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, which in Matanzas between March 31 and April 4, with national distribution starting on April 19.
This fuel allowed a reduction in the generation deficit of 1,945 megawatts on April 1 to 1,012 megawatts on April 21, the lowest forecast since November 2025, although the projected deficit for the peak nighttime demand this Thursday was 1,100 megawatts.
While Havana has gone three days without scheduled blackouts as of April 22, provinces such as Holguín, Granma, Matanzas, and Santiago de Cuba continued to experience power cuts lasting between 18 and 24 hours daily, a reality that contradicts the official optimism.
Russian crude covers only a third of Cuba's monthly demand, making the relief temporary and fragile in light of needs ranging from 90,000 to 110,000 barrels daily, with local production at only 40,000 barrels.
"We ended the year in better conditions than we started," said De la O Levy, a statement that millions of Cubans who remain without power for hours receive with skepticism.
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