Residents of the area known as Vaquería 78, located on the La Pastora farm near the Granja Trinidad, in the municipality of Alquízar in Artemisa, are marking 46 days without electricity this Saturday after the transformer that supplies the settlement caught fire. According to the inhabitants, local authorities claim that there is no equipment available in the entire province of Artemisa to replace it.
With this breakdown, a total of five transformers have collapsed this year in the same community, where in previous instances families have had to wait up to an entire month without electricity in anticipation of a solution.
A local resident, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals, stated that the issues are constant because the Electric Company does not install new units: "They put them back in after repairs, which is why they don’t last." In addition to the poor condition of the equipment, low voltage and continuous service interruptions contribute to the problem. The so-called "disconnect and reconnect" fluctuations, as explained by those affected, ultimately lead to transformer explosions.
The uninterrupted blackout lasting a month and a half has left families in La Pastora in a critical situation. Unable to preserve food due to the lack of refrigeration, residents are forced to cook daily with firewood and charcoal, while dealing with extreme heat and a plague of insects at night.
They say there are no transformers in the province, "but what's really lacking is shame," summarized one of the residents with indignation in response to the official neglect.
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