A neighbor from the Berenguer neighborhood in Calabazar, Boyeros, reported on Facebook that the transformer in his block exploded into flames two days ago and that, despite having reported it numerous times, no technician from the electricity company has shown up to address the failure.
The photographs accompanying the report published in the group "Empresa Eléctrica de La Habana" show the pole completely engulfed in flames during the night of August 13.
"The transformer in my block exploded due to work done by the electric company involving a broken pole; they replaced it with a tied-up cable, and as a result, the transformer exploded two days ago. We have reported it more than a thousand times, and no one has come to check anything. I no longer know where to go or whom to call," wrote the author of the post.
The cause of the explosion, according to the complainant, was poor repairs: crews from the company replaced a broken connector piece with an improvised cable, which ultimately led to the equipment catching fire.
The comments on the post reveal a pattern of corruption that recurs in different neighborhoods of Havana and other provinces.
"You have to pay to see it. In a friend of mine's block, it also exploded — I'm talking about 15 days ago — they called the electric company and nothing happened; they say that after 72 hours is when it gets analyzed," recounted a commentator.
"There are transformers in Capdevila, they told the neighbor that for 78 thousand pesos they would replace it. They collected money from the block, completed the amount, and then those people came with the transformer and changed it. And this happens everywhere: the block that runs out of a transformer resolves it with money, because everyone there has to eat," he continued.
Another user pointed out that a friend was charged 90 thousand pesos for the same service, while installing a simple caballito can cost up to 10 thousand pesos , charged irregularly.
A commentator described how he resisted the charge: "It happened to me and I didn't pay anything. When they brought it to me, I said: 'It's ready, here it is signed; I'm going to pass it to the president of the government; go and collect it from him.' And they had to leave without a dime. They're outrageous."
The situation is not unique to Berenguer. Residents of Santos Suárez report having only two hours of electricity daily for over a week; on Avenida 57 between 78 and 80, a transformer has been burnt for 17 days without any attention; and in Mayabeque, there are areas that have been without electricity for 40 days due to a lack of equipment.
"The OBE of Boyeros is a champion in inefficiency," declared another commentator.
The only channel that neighbors identify as operational is number 18888: “What you need to do is insist early in the morning. The rest of the numbers are useless,” warned a user.
"The explosion of transformers has become a routine occurrence, and it's only due to the constant fluctuations in the power supply; they can't withstand it," summarized a neighbor in the comments, articulating what millions of Cubans experience daily.
This municipality already experienced a similar episode in July, when Calabazar residents detained two linemen from the Electric Union accused of selling electricity illegally to private businesses while the neighborhood remained without power.
The transformer crisis in Cuba is structural. In Havana, an average of 25 transformers are damaged per day, with days seeing more than 60 faulty units, and out of 1,500 transformers assessed in the capital, 755 are operating overloaded.
The Electric Union acknowledged in June that there are no spare parts available in any province and that the country only has three repair workshops across the entire territory.
Related videos:
Filed under: