Cuban blackouts worsen crisis
Oct. 22, 2024
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said late yesterday that power had been restored in most of Havana after massive blackouts since Friday, but the figure for the entire country was just 36 percent. Díaz-Canel also announced he was cancelling his trip to this week’s Brics summit in Russia because of the energy emergency, reports the Financial Times. (See yesterday’s post.)
At least six people were killed yesterday by Hurricane Oscar’s pass on Cuba’s eastern coast, further impacting efforts to recover electricity production, reports the Associated Press.
Cuba’s blackouts are affecting hospitals, some of which are running on generators in a context of limited fuel, “raising questions about what will happen if patients are left, quite literally, in the dark,” reported the Miami Herald yesterday. The government shut down on-essential commercial activity, as well as schools and universities.
Cuba’s current crisis is so severe that it threatens to explode into social unrest, according to the New York Times. Massive protests in 2021 were spurred by power outages. (AFP)
Díaz-Canel appeared in military uniform on television on Sunday night to warn Cubans not to take part in “vandalism,” in response to protests. Videos on social media on Sunday showed small groups of people banging pots and pans, demanding the return of electricity, reports Le Monde.
Cuba’s power outages are “just the most visible aspect of the acute humanitarian crisis facing the Cuban people, a crisis marked by shortages of food, medicine, fuel, and the breakdown of essential public services,” writes William LeoGrande in Foreign Policy. “Central to both the energy crisis and the broader humanitarian crisis is Cuba’s macroeconomic decline.”
Regional
Latin America’s current wave of violence responds to “a reorganisation of the region’s criminal economies, now over a decade in the making. One that is testing democracy’s capacity to respond — and survive,” writes Will Freeman in the Financial Times.
Latin America is bracing for the potential economic impact of the U.S. election in two weeks: “Trade and tariffs, as well as monetary policy's effect on global interest rates, are likely the largest avenues for the election to jolt the U.S.'s neighboring region,” according to Reuters. “Washington's economic war with China could particularly rock Mexico and boost Brazil, especially in a tit-for-tat scenario.”
Venezuela
Venezuelan authorities arrested former industry and oil minister Pedro Tellechea, Attorney General Tarek Saab said yesterday. The government accused him of working with the U.S. government to undermine the industry that drives the country’s economy. (Associated Press)
It is the latest high-profile detention connected to management of Venezuela's sanctioned oil industry, reports Reuters.
The detention comes days after Tellechea was replaced by a close ally of Nicolás Maduro, Alex Saab, who was accused in the U.S. of money laundering but returned to Venezuela as part of a prisoner swap last year. (Associated Press)
Brazil
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the head injury he suffered from a fall at home over the weekend was "serious" and that doctors expect to have a clear view on its severity in three or four days, reports Reuters. (See yesterday’s briefs.)
Colombia
The EMC guerrilla group and its leader, Iván Mordisco, are a major challenge to Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s peace plans — and also to his environmental goals, reports the Guardian. (See yesterday’s post.)
Peru
Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo was sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison in a case involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, yesterday. (Associated Press)
Chile
Chile's renewable energy resources could supply 70 times the country's current electricity generation capacity and produce up to 160 million tons per year of clean hydrogen by 2050, according to a National Green Hydrogen Strategy adopted by the Boric administration. (Reuters)
Mexico
Mexican schools have six months to implement a government-sponsored ban on junk food or face heavy fines as the Sheinbaum administration seeks to combat childhood obesity, reports the Associated Press.
Argentina
An international surrogacy ring exploited impoverished women, denied payments for miscarriages, and “commercialized” babies in Argentina, according to a team of national prosecutors. (Guardian)
University professors and students have protested the Milei administration’s defunding of public education with open-air classes on streets — today protesters plan a vast “teach-in” at Plaza de Mayo, reports the Associated Press.
Culture Corner
A Spanish-made plastic replica of ancient cave paintings is helping preserve Indigenous Wauja culture in Brazil — Guardian