Images released on Wednesday show Cubans bathing and cooking in a public park in front of the Malecón in Havana, in a scene that encapsulates the severity of the humanitarian crisis facing the Cuban capital due to the lack of water and electricity.
The activist Mag Jorge Castro posted a video on Facebook with a comment that contrasts the reality on the streets with the regime's agenda: "The Cuban regime is holding an urgent meeting today to address the measures announced by Díaz-Canel... meanwhile, on the island, Cubans are bathing and cooking in public parks due to the lack of water and electricity. A disaster."
The scene takes place on the same day that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba meets urgently to evaluate the package of more than 20 economic measures that Miguel Díaz-Canel announced on June 12, and one day before the National Assembly of People's Power holds an extraordinary session to ratify them.
The collapse of the water supply in Havana has a direct cause: 87% of the capital's water system relies on electric pumps, and power outages render them inoperable.
According to data from May from the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources, more than 376,000 residents of Havana lacked regular access to drinking water: 66,961 due to breaks in the network and more than 309,000 due to lack of electricity. Only 135 of the 480 essential pumping stations are in protected circuits from outages.
At the national level, the situation is not any better: nearly 2.7 million Cubans suffer from a shortage of drinking water, and 10 million have intermittent supply.
The blackouts causing this collapse reached extreme levels on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Electric Union reported an impact of 1,902 MW at 7:00 PM. The shutdown of the Guiteras CTE on Monday triggered the estimated peak deficit to 2,085 MW.
In Santiago de Cuba, the electric company reorganized the blackouts into nine blocks, leaving each area with only one or two hours of electricity per day. In Matanzas, there were reports of over 72 consecutive hours without service in some neighborhoods, and in Granma, there were circuits without power for more than 45 hours.
The water and electricity crisis is compounded by the deterioration of the housing stock. In Havana, approximately 1,000 buildings collapse each year, there are 185,348 properties in poor condition, and 46,158 require major renovations. This collapse has increased the number of homeless individuals in parks and public spaces across the city, including the Malecón area.
It is not the first time that the park in front of the Malecón has been the scene of such precariousness. In October 2024, children were seen bathing in a puddle of stagnant water in the Antonio Maceo park, next to the same waterfront promenade. What then seemed like an isolated image has turned into a daily sight in the Cuban capital.
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