Cuba suffers from an energy shortage. The oil supplied by Russia in July is not enough, and the entire country is warned of widespread power outages.
Cuba goes from one crisis to another. However, the current crisis is even the most difficult since the revolution of the 1950s, says the Cuba researcher at the University of Helsinki and Turku Nadia Nava.
– All the effects are not yet known, but it is said that this is worse than the crisis caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union, Nava tells .
The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s was a serious blow to Cuba. Like the countries of the European Eastern Bloc, the country was tamed by rejecting communism. However, Cuba, located in the Caribbean, has continued with its unique system until these days.
Cuba has been under the US trade embargo for 60 years. Donald Trump’s the sanctions tightened by the administration in 2019 have made the country’s economy even more miserable at the same time as the corona crisis has crippled the promisingly growing tourism.
Cuba’s economy contracted by 10.9 percent in the corona year 2020, and only slightly improved last year.
Carnival cancelled, austerity measures started
The recession is felt in all sectors, but the situation is particularly weak in the energy sector.
Cuba is largely dependent on imported energy. According to experts, the country’s electricity network is falling apart.
Continuous power outages led to protests in July last year, the organizers of which were sentenced to long prison terms.
Now we fear the same thing. Russia delivered 700,000 barrels of oil to Cuba last month, but it is not enough for the energy needs of the island nation of 11.2 million inhabitants.
Electricity is starting to be saved. The summer carnival planned for Havana has been cancelled. The police are prepared for the fact that power outages lasting four hours a day during the hottest time of the summer will also heat up emotions in the capital.
Exile reached
The austerity has increased emigration. Over the past year, an estimated 150,000 people have fled Cuba, most of them to the United States.
The graduates are from all social classes. For example, at the World Athletics Championships held in Oregon, USA in July, three top Cuban athletes defected to the West.
– People don’t want to move to their country, but try to leave it. It is difficult to predict the future of Cuba, says Nava.
You can discuss the topic until Tuesday at 11 p.m.