A fire reported this Tuesday afternoon destroyed the electric substation in the town of Alacranes, in the municipality of Unión de Reyes, province of Matanzas, leaving approximately 3,700 customers without service, reported Radio Unión Matanzas.
The towns of Alacranes, Vito Falcón, El Estante, Puerto Rico, and part of Unión de Reyes were left without electricity after the incident. The official press has not yet released images of the fire.
Among the affected facilities are two water pumping stations, the José Machado Polyclinic, the Celia Sánchez Maternity Home, the special school Abel Santamaría Cuadrado, and the headquarters of the Territorial Basic Electric Organization (OBET).
Yansay López Medina, director of OBET, confirmed to Radio Unión that "approximately 3,700 customers remain without electricity service as a result of this incident."
Specialists from the Provincial Electric Company went to the site and determined through preliminary diagnostics that "the infrastructure of the substation suffered structural damage."
The exact causes of the incident remain undetermined, and the authorities have already opened an investigation to clarify what happened.
The First Secretary of the Party in Unión de Reyes, Yaneisy Fuentes López, announced the activation of a Command Post in Alacranes, which will operate 24 hours a day, under the permanent direction of an administrative team, a political representative, and delegates from the People's Power.
In response to the interruption of water pumping, the authorities organized distribution through tanker trucks and animal-drawn carts that will source water from the Local Development Project "La Piscina."
The Family Assistance System (SAF) will prepare and sell stew to the residents, with the support of agricultural cooperatives in the municipality. Authorities have activated the number 52141758 to address any questions from the public while technical teams work to restore the service, although no timeline has been specified for the recovery of the damaged substation in Alacranes.
The fire strikes an area that was already facing a severe electricity crisis in Matanzas: in October, several towns in the municipality had gone without electricity for over 70 consecutive hours, and just two days before the incident, approximately 265,000 people in the province were struggling to receive water, precisely because 87% of Cuba's aqueducts rely on electrical supply for pumping.
The pattern of fires in substations has been recurring in Cuba throughout 2026: similar incidents were reported in Caibarién in June, in Alquízar in July, and in Jicotea-Ranchuelo in August, all resulting in structural damage and prolonged blackouts that highlight the widespread deterioration of the country's electrical network.
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