The Cuban comedian Ulises Toirac pointed to the Government of Cuba as the main responsible party for the electrical collapse affecting the country, due to decades of poor internal decisions and errors in energy planning.
His statements appear in a detailed analysis published on his Facebook profile, in which he examines some of the decisions that, in his opinion, led to the deterioration of the National Electric System (SEN).
"I have insisted on more than one occasion that the current state of energy in our country (this disaster of epic proportions) is not the direct and sole result (far from it) of the restrictive policies of successive American administrations, especially 'the energy blockade' of the current one," wrote Toirac.
In their opinion, the collapse is "more attributable to misguided internal decisions resulting from a 'planning' lacking scientific basis and future vision."
Toirac studied Electroenergetic Engineering at CUJAE before dedicating himself to humor. In his analysis, he outlines a historical line that begins with the energy dependence on the Soviet Union, goes through the Special Period, and culminates in the consequences of the so-called "Energy Revolution," driven by Fidel Castro starting in 2005.
The popular actor recalls that Castro claimed, "by 2006, we will have an abundance of electricity," a statement that stands in stark contrast to the severe crisis currently facing the Cuban electrical system.
The so-called Energy Revolution aimed, among other measures, to decentralize energy generation through thousands of generators distributed across the country. According to the data cited by Toirac, the diesel engine program exceeded 1,300 MW of installed capacity and was officially declared completed at the beginning of 2007, while that same year saw the deployment of fuel oil engines begin.
Toirac points out that those machines had factory warranties of only five years, and starting in 2017, the resources needed to maintain them began to dwindle.
According to the figures included in its analysis, in 2022 there were 1,401 engines distributed across 189 locations: 366 were out of service due to lack of parts, and another 150 were awaiting maintenance. The generation from those units is estimated to have dropped by 42% between 2018 and 2022.
At the same time, it argues that the focus on distributed generation was accompanied by the abandonment of the development of new thermal power plants to replace the aging ones and by insufficient maintenance of the existing ones.
This is compounded by the greater wear and tear caused by the use of Cuban crude, which has a high sulfur content, requiring more intensive maintenance of the facilities.
Toirac also questions one of the central objectives of the Energy Revolution: reducing consumption through more efficient appliances.
A German technical report cited by the humorist, based on data from the Electric Union in 2009, placed the average daily consumption per household between 5.2 and 5.4 kWh from 2005 to 2008, showing virtually no variations during that period.
The actor further notes that Cuba has moved from its dependency on Soviet fuel to that of Venezuelan oil without taking advantage of that period to develop alternatives capable of reducing the country's energy vulnerability.
Although it points out that U.S. measures hindered financing mechanisms and purchases, Toirac concludes that the decisions made internally had a decisive weight.
"The solutions (which included massive purchases among others) were decisive for the extreme deterioration of electric energy production in our country," he stated.
His analysis comes at one of the most critical moments for the SEN. On August 5, Cuba recorded a record deficit of over 2,400 MW in generation, while the prolonged blackouts continue to impact the population.
This is not the first time that Toirac has questioned the energy policy pursued by the Cuban regime for decades. In March, he attributed the collapse to "30 years of backlog" due to poor investment policies. In July, he stated that the disaster was the result of "six decades of poor economic decisions."
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