Beijing, 21 October (RHC) Friends of Cuba in China today expressed their support for the island in its current energy crisis and called for the US blockade against the Caribbean nation to be lifted.

In statements to Prensa Latina, Chinese businessman Huang Qiao Ming (Simon) said that the US blockade was unfair and represented a great difficulty for international trade.

However, he expressed the will to find alternatives to overcome this blockade, which is currently an economic and financial war against the largest of the Antilles.

“Trust, unity and technology,” said Simón, referring to the importance of working together and being aware that a better future is possible despite this siege.

For his part, the Chinese film director Yin Dawei rejected the US policy of blockade against Cuba and expressed his firm opposition to this siege.

The audiovisual director said although the North wants to blockade the island, it cannot prevent the Cuban people from interacting with the world.

“The United States has a bad conscience. What they are doing is not right and we are firmly opposed to it,” he added.

Earlier, the Asian giant’s foreign ministry expressed its solidarity with the Cuban people and government, while rejecting the blockade against the largest of the Antilles.

In response to a question from Prensa Latina, spokesman Lin Jian pointed out that according to the principles of the UN Charter and the basic norms of international law, Washington should immediately lift this siege, lift sanctions against Cuba as soon as possible and remove the Caribbean country from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

“This is in the interest of the United States, of Cuba, of both peoples, it favors regional stability and development, and it is what the broad international community supports,” he added.

He reiterated that China and Cuba are good friends, comrades and brothers, and that Beijing is aware of the difficulties the island is facing at this time.

“We believe that under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of Cuba, the Cuban people will surely overcome this difficult moment and advance their socialist cause,” he said.

The Caribbean nation is currently facing an energy emergency and the national power grid has suffered several blackouts, leaving the country without electricity.

Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, denounced that a large part of the current emergency has to do with the fact that the island does not have stable fuel supplies to operate the system at full capacity and in a stable manner, due to the US policy of financial persecution. (Source: Prensa Latina)

Oct 19 (teleSUR) The Bolivia’s Government expressed this Saturday its solidarity with Cuba over the blackouts that have occurred in recent hours on the island due to the disconnection of the national grid of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric, the largest in the country.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Plurinational State of Bolivia expresses its solidarity with the people and the Government of the sister Republic of Cuba, for the energy situation it is experiencing,” states the Bolivia’s governmnet statement.

In addition, the Plurinational state rejected “the plans of ultra-right dissident groups that, from abroad, seek to take advantage of this situation to destabilize the government of President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and convulse the country”.

The ministry also called on the governments and peoples of the world to insist on compliance with the more than twenty resolutions, adopted in more than two decades at the United Nations, which call for the end of the US trade economic blockade against Cuba.

The diplomatic portfolio stated that the US blockade is the cause of the “anguish and suffering of the Cuban people.”

Cuba face another nationwide blackout this Saturday after the recovery process of the National Electric System (SEN) failed. The SEN collapsed due to a malfunction at the Guiteras thermoelectric plant, one of the country’s main power generators, causing a total power outage.

The member states of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) also expressed their support for the people and government of Cuba in the face of the current energy crisis, Attributing it to the economic war and sanctions imposed by the US.

In their statement, they denounced the unilateral coercive measures and blockade as cruel and inhuman, stressing that these actions seek to affect the well-being of Cubans.

Oct 19 (teleSUR) According to Lázaro Guerra, Director General of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the recovery of the western region’s power, initially lost, is in progress. The Santa Cruz del Norte thermoelectric plant is starting up, and the Mariel plant will soon follow. 

“We already have energy in Santa Cruz and will soon have energy in Mariel to start operations in this central, which is crucial for providing a stable base generation to the system,” said an energy sector spokesperson.

In Havana and Mayabeque, electricity service is being gradually restored. The central region maintains a functioning microsystem, and efforts are underway to connect to the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant via a 110,000-volt line.

Lázaro Guerra reported delays at the Felton and Renté thermoelectric plants due to technical issues that are being resolved. Authorities are considering the Moa thermoelectric plant as a viable alternative. 

President Miguel Diaz Canel personally visited the National Load Dispatch to oversee restoration efforts. “We continue in this process, working intensely and calmly to complete the restoration of the system as soon as possible,” stated the official.

Currently, around 370 MW are being provided nationwide through electric micro-systems operating in most provinces, except for Cienfuegos, where the thermoelectric plant remains out of service. Authorities expect to progressively increase power generation with new units coming online, such as Santa Cruz del Norte, Mariel, and the floating power plant.

“We’ll continue to increase capacity across the country as we restore the system and introduce base generation,” explained a spokesperson. Although no exact timeline was given, it was mentioned that previous recovery efforts, like during Hurricane Irma, took approximately 72 hours. However, this situation is different due to the low energy availability before the blackout, with only 900 MW available due to fuel issues.

Fuel supplies have improved, with ships unloading in Mariel and Havana, and supplies reaching floating power plants across the country. Diesel fuel distribution for distrib

19.10.24 – Pressenza New York

The majority of Cubans support Castro…every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba…to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.”

Lester D. Mallory, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, 1960.

Despite draconian coercive measures by the US – overwhelmingly condemned every year by the UN General Assembly, with the next vote slated for October 29-30 – the Cuban Revolution has had extraordinary successes. This small, impoverished, formerly colonized island nation has achieved levels of education, medical services, and performance in many other fields, including sports, that rival the first world, through the application of socialist principles.

By Roger D. Harris

Cuba has rightly become a model of internationalism and an exemplar of socialism. As a consequence, every US administration for over six decades has targeted this “threat of a good example.” Back in its early days, the Cuban Revolution was bolstered by socialist solidarity, particularly from the Soviet Union.

The contemporary geopolitical situation is very different. Most notably the socialist bloc is defunct. Meanwhile, Cuba continues to be confronted by a still hegemonic US. In turn, the Yankee empire is now challenged by the hope of an emergent multipolar order. Cuba has expressed interest in joining the BRICS trade alliance of emerging economies and will attend their meeting in Russia, October 22-24.

Successes turned into liabilities

Today, Cuba is confronting perhaps its greatest challenge. The ever intensified US blockade is designed to perversely turn the successes of the revolution into liabilities.

For example, the revolution achieved one hundred percent literacy, created farming collectives and cooperatives, and mechanized cultivation, thus freeing the campesinos from the drudgery of peasant subsistence agriculture.

But now, most tractors are idle, in need of scarce fuel and embargoed spare parts. Agricultural production has subsequently contracted. In May, I was on a bus that traveled the length of the island. Mile upon mile of once productive agricultural fields lay fallow.

Historical yields of key crops are down nearly 40% due to lack of fertilizers and pesticides, according to a Cuban government statement. The daily bread ration has been slashed, Reuters reports.

In order to feed the nation, the state has had to use precious hard currency to import food; currency which otherwise could be used to repair a crumbling infrastructure. Broken pipes have caused widespread shortages of drinking water.

Under siege, some 10% percent of the population, over a million Cubans, have left between 2022 and 2023. This has, in turn, led to a drain of skilled labor and a decrease in productivity, contributing to a vicious cycle driving out-migration.

Le Monde diplomatique cautions: “Cuba is facing a moment that is extraordinarily precarious. While numerous factors have led to this…US sanctions have, at every juncture, triggered or worsened every aspect of the current crisis.”

The Obama engagement

Of the some 40 sovereign states sanctioned and slated for regime-change by Washington, Cuba is somewhat unique. Until recently, the island did not have the domestic social classes from which a counter-revolutionary base could be recruited.

In Cuba, most bourgeoisie under the Batista dictatorship left the country shortly after the revolution. The large US corporations that they had operated were expropriated. Similarly, when the government nationalized many small businesses in the 1960s, others fled to US shores.

By 2014, then-US President Obama lamented that Washington’s Cuba policy had “failed to advance our interests.” Obama’s new strategy was to engage Cuba in the hope of fostering a counter-revolutionary class opposition.

Obama reestablished diplomatic relations with Cuba after a hiatus dating to 1961. Travel and some trade restrictions were lifted. And more remittances from relatives living in the US could be sent to Cuba.

In his famous March 2016 speech in Havana, Obama proclaimed to rousing applause: “I’ve called on our Congress to lift the embargo.” This was an outright lie. The US president had only remarked that the so-called embargo (really a blockade, because the US enforces it on third countries) was “outdated.”

Obama lauded the cuentapropistas, small entrepreneurs in Cuba, and pledged to help promote that stratum. He promised a new US policy focus of encouraging small businesses in Cuba. “There’s no limitation from the United States on the ability of Cuba to take these steps” to create what in effect would be a potentially counter-revolutionary class, Obama promised.

Obama warned the Cubans, “over time, the youth will lose hope” if prosperity were not achieved by creating a new small business class.

While normalizing relations with Cuba, Obama took a more adversarial stance toward Venezuela. He declared the oil-rich South American nation an “unusual and extraordinary threat” and imposed “targeted sanctions” on March 2015. The successes of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution in promoting regional integration were challenging US influence in Latin America, prompting Washington to adopt a “dual-track diplomacy” of engagement with Cuba and containment with Venezuela.

Obama spoke of the “failed” US policy on Cuba, which had not achieved “its intended goals.” Often left unsaid was that the “goal” has been to reverse the Cuban revolution. Obama’s intent was not to terminate the US regime-change policy, but to achieve it more effectively.

His engagement tactic should not be confused for accord. Obama still championed the three belligerent core elements of the US policy: a punishing blockade, occupation of the port of Guantanamo, and covert actions to undermine and destabilize Cuba.

Trump undoes and outdoes Obama

Donald Trump assumed office at a time when the leftist Pink Tide was ebbing. Taking advantage of the changed geopolitical context, the new president intensified Obama’s offensive against Cuba’s closest regional supporter Venezuela, while reversing his predecessor’s engagement with Havana. His “maximum pressure” campaign against Venezuela devastated their oil sector, thereby reducing Cuba’s petroleum subsidies from its ally.

Trump enacted 243 coercive measures against Cuba. He ended individual “people-to-people” educational travel, banned US business with military-linked Cuban entities, and imposed caps on remittances. In the closing days of his administration, he relisted Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, which further cut the island off from international finance.

Biden continues and extends Trump’s policies

Joe Biden, while campaigning for the presidency, played to liberal sentiment with vague inferences that he would restore a policy of engagement and undo Trump’s sanctions on Cuba.

By the time Biden assumed the US presidency, Cuba had been heavily impacted by the Covid pandemic. Temporary lockdowns reduced domestic productivity. Travel restrictions dried up tourist dollars, a major source of foreign currency.

Once in office and Cuba ever more vulnerable, Biden continued and extended Trump’s policies, including retaining it on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

At the height of the Covid pandemic, Belly of the Beast reported how scarcities in Cuba fueled anti-government demonstrations on July 11, 2021. Eleven days later, Biden imposed yet more sanctions to further exacerbate the scarcities.

As an article in the LA Progressive explained, “Cuba’s humanitarian crisis – fueled by the sanctions maintained by Biden – seems to have only encouraged his administration to keep tightening the screws,” concluding “his policy remains largely indistinguishable from that of Trump.”

Biden, however, continued the Obama policy of empowering the Cuban private sector. He allowed more remittances, disproportionately benefiting Cubans with relatives in the US (who tend to be better off financially). He also facilitated international fund transfers involving private Cuban businesses. Amendments to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations enhanced internet access to encourage development of private telecommunications infrastructures for “independent entrepreneurs.”

What about Democratic Party presidential hopeful Kamala Harris?

“When evaluating the impact of a possible Kamala Harris electoral victory on the United States’ Cuba policy,” On Cuba News admits, “the first thing that should be recognized is the lack of evidence or antecedents to form a well-founded forecast.” Likewise, the Miami Herald finds Harris’s current Latin American policies a mystery with “few clues and a lot of uncertainty.”

Going back to when she was on the vice-presidential campaign trail in 2020, Harris commented about the possibility of easing the blockade on what she called the “dictatorship.” She said that won’t happen anytime soon and would have to be predicated on a new Washington-approved government in Cuba.

Alternative for Cuba

If Cubans want to see what an alternative future might be like under Yankee beneficence, they need only look 48 miles to the east at the deliberately failed state of Haiti.

In the US, the National Network on Cuba, ACERE, and Pastors for Peace are among the organizations working to end the blockade and get Cuba off the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

As the US Peace Council admonished: “No matter how heroic a people may be, socialism must provide for their material needs. The US blockade of Cuba is designed precisely to thwart that and to discredit socialism in Cuba and anywhere else where oppressed people try to better their lot…The intensified US interference in Cuba is a wakeup call for greater efforts at solidarity.”

Roger D. Harris is with the human rights group, Task Force on the Americas, founded in 1985.

Havana, October 18 (RHC)– Cuba is going through a very difficult electro-energy situation in recent days, according to the general director of the National Electric Union (UNE), Alfredo López Valdés, during the special television broadcast this Thursday, conducted by the member of the Political Bureau and Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, in which the details associated with the problem and the prospects for a solution were explained to the people, based on daily efforts and the decisions adopted.

Fuel limitations are the main cause of this complex panorama, responsible for the deficit of more than 800 megawatts (MW), which represents around half of the effects produced, during the last day, during peak hours.  Mobile and distributed generation are the most affected, above 600 MW.

López Valdés detailed the technical status of the thermal power plants (CTE). There are breakdowns at the Antonio Maceo plant in Santiago de Cuba, with prospects of reinstatement today; and maintenance is being carried out at a unit of the CTE Carlos Manuel de Céspedes in Cienfuegos, and a machine in Santa Cruz del Norte, the process of which will take about six months.

In addition, Energás reported the breakdown of a unit in Varadero, scheduled to return on the 23rd, with 45 MW. There will soon be a need to carry out light maintenance at the Antonio Guiteras plant in Matanzas and at the Lidio Ramón Pérez plant in Felton. Despite the difficulties, thermal generation has behaved as expected.

A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN IS UNDERWAY

The UNE General Director pointed out the priority of increasing the use of national fuels in this generation source and dedicating at least four years to in-depth work in various CTE, including a block in Felton that would provide 250 MW.

On the other hand, he contrasted, less than a year would be enough to get the distributed generation system back up and running. Other actions should be aimed at repairing the transmission lines and measuring electricity.

All of this is part of a comprehensive plan, with a tendency towards gradual improvement, focused on two fundamental aspects: recovering generation capacities and working on the demand side, he explained.

This last indicator increased by 120 MW compared to last year, in the early hours, due to the existence of more electronic equipment, and has exceeded 3,000 MW in total, a figure that was unthinkable before, he stressed. He insisted, along with savings, on the efficient use of energy and reported the purchase of pipes and other resources to manufacture in Cuba several basic components that were initially going to be imported.

Regarding the distribution of fuel oil, Edrey Rocha González, general director of the Cuba-Petroleum Union, said that the ship scheduled to dock in Matanzas on the 9th did not do so until the 14th, due to bad weather, which meant delays in the continuity of the fuel to other ports.

He stated that last night the ship would be arriving at Moa, in Holguín, and would make it possible to incorporate the engines from that area.  Likewise, the ships bound for Havana and Mariel were loaded, which will set sail when the weather conditions in the west allow it.

Regarding diesel, he stated that some 2,000 tons will be delivered so that most of the engines can work, and to have a greater impact on generation with this type of units.

Rocha González pointed out that the trend with fuel oil and diesel is towards an increase in their distribution, thanks to availability, so the service can be improved in the coming days.

Regarding the distribution of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), he assured that today the distribution will begin throughout the national territory, which will be reflected in the decrease in demand, since in the previous days the burden of cooking food was assumed by electricity generation due to the lack of LPG.

For his part, the Prime Minister specified additional indications focused on savings, among which are the suspension of non-essential work activities, the incentive for teleworking, the operation of the Energy Councils, the general disconnection of empty premises and the shutdown, during peak hours, of high-consumption equipment such as refrigerators, ovens and freezers.

He also discussed the implementation of the national program, which includes maximizing investments in national crude oil and the participation of renewable sources, with respect to which López Valdés highlighted the work on 31 photovoltaic parks of 21 MW.

He also emphasized the need to involve the non-state sector in the collective effort to save, even with the collection of non-subsidized rates according to their profit levels. 
 

The Communist Party of Cuba’s account on X highlighted that “thousands of Cuban men and women are working tirelessly to restore service

Oct 18 (teleSUR) Cuban authorities announced that the Energás plant, located in the province of Mayabeque, is generating electricity intended for the Santa Cruz del Norte Thermoelectric Plant. This initiative is part of efforts to address the electrical crisis following the disconnection of the National Electric System caused by the shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant.

Additionally, the Communist Party of Cuba’s account on X highlighted that “thousands of Cuban men and women are working tirelessly to restore service, a process that began at the Energás Plant in Puerto Escondido, which is already producing electricity to integrate with the thermoelectric plants.”

According to officials, the provinces of Villa Clara, Granma, Holguín, and Guantánamo have micro-generation systems that allow them to supply energy to the thermoelectric plants and activate units in Cienfuegos, Nuevitas (Camagüey), and Santiago de Cuba.

The island’s government emphasizes that the recovery of the national electric system is in its early stages, but efforts continue for its complete restoration. “We are working methodically and safely to avoid setbacks and achieve a total restoration of the system,” stated the Communist Party’s account.

In a subsequent news report by the same account, it was stated that “the Cuban Aviation Corporation (Cacsa) reports that the facilities, services, and systems of the country’s ten international airports have energy backup to ensure all services for the aircraft”.

The Venezuelan government also calls upon the international community, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, to mobilize in support of Cuba and to categorically condemn the blockade affecting it.

Oct 18 (teleSUR) The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has issued a statement expressing its “absolute solidarity and unconditional support” for its sister Republic of Cuba amidst the energy crisis facing the island. This support is framed within what Venezuela describes as a “cruel intensification of the economic war and financial persecution” by the United States, through the “illegal blockade” imposed on the Cuban people.

The statement acknowledges Venezuela’s recognition of the “heroic efforts made by the people of Cuba, as well as their president, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez,” to mitigate the effects of these “criminal unilateral coercive measures.” The Bolivarian government views these actions as a form of “collective punishment,” which it believes constitutes a “crime against humanity” directed at Cuba.

Furthermore, the text emphasizes that Cuba has the backing of the Bolivarian Revolution to confront this situation, reaffirming confidence that the Cuban nation will overcome its current challenges. In this regard, the Venezuelan government also calls upon the international community, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, to mobilize in support of Cuba and to categorically condemn the blockade affecting it.

Additionally, it requests the “immediate removal of the infamous unilateral list” that includes countries allegedly linked to terrorism, which it claims is “the main cause of the hardships currently endured.”

This pronouncement underscores the historical and supportive relationship between both nations.

Havana, Oct 17 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez on Thursday accused the United States government of favoring terrorist acts against his nation.

Terrorist acts against Cuba are organized, financed, and committed with impunity in US territory, Rodriguez wrote in a text posted on X.

“Consistent with its aggressive policy against our country, the US government tolerates terrorism and includes Cuba in an arbitrary and slanderous list,” he stressed.

The statement, marked with the hashtag #NoAlTerrorismo, is also published on the Cuban Foreign Ministry’s Cubaminrex website. iff/ro/raj