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Since midday on Friday, October 18, Cuba was left in the dark due to the unexpected disconnection of the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Plant in Matanzas, which generates more than 200 MW and is one of the mainstays of the island’s electric power system.
The blackout occurred a few hours after Prime Minister Manuel Marrero announced an improvement in Cuba’s electricity situation, which in the last two weeks had resulted in blackouts of up to 12 consecutive hours in many regions of the country, followed by three hours of service and again 12 hours of outage.
In the midst of the darkness, social networks became a window to denounce what was happening by citizens inside and outside Cuba, as well as a place where allies of the Díaz Canel regime pushed the narrative of sanctions as responsible for the deficiency in service.
From pots and pans to social media
Residents in various parts of Havana came out to protest peacefully after more than 30 hours of generalized blackout. Postings on social networks showed pots and pans banging in the streets of Havana and Villa Clara.
During the night of Sunday, October 20, in the midst of the collapse of the national electrical system, the cry of “Díaz-Canel, singao” was once again heard in the streets of Cuba, despite the threats made by the ruler to silence the unrest in the name of the “principles of the revolution”.
The protest was also felt in social networks. Data compiled by ProBox reveal from October 18 onwards a drastic increase in conversation around keywords such as: no light , blackout, electrical system, Vicente de la O Levy, Cuban Ministry of Energy and Mines, Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric power plant, blackout in Cuba, electrical system fuel, electrical crisis, Miguel Díaz Canel blackout, and electrical deficit.
Of the 4,961 mentions linked to the topic obtained between September 22 and October 22, a total of 561 mentions were reported on October 18 and continued to rise until October 21, reaching a peak of 1,573 mentions of the topic within the sample obtained.
This conversation was mainly concentrated on X with 49.49% of the mentions obtained (2,455) and on Facebook with 44.39% (2,202 mentions). Of all these mentions, 773 (15.5%) came from users whose location in social networks corresponds to Cuba.
ProBox also found content on Hurricane Oscar due to its passage through Cuba during the days of the blackout, and the worsening of the energy crisis experienced by the island’s inhabitants.
Both X and Facebook posts reported both events. Some media such as Azteca Noticias used the hashtag #NiPatriaNiVida on Facebook to point out the struggle of Cubans to survive between the hurricane and the electricity crisis, which was also replicated on X.
Likewise, along with terms such as “energy crisis” there are publications linked to protests and pots and pans banging in Havana due to the number of blackouts, as well as other reports in which it is pointed out that the crisis is not recent but has been going on for years and has been accentuated in the last 6 weeks due to the fuel deficit.
The words “desconexión sistema” and “sistema electroenergético” were mainly linked to publications that replicated what was published by the Cuban Ministry of Energy and Mines, as did RT en Español on X and pro-government accounts, while “colapso sistema” was linked more to publications of media more critical of the Cuban authorities and their responsibility for the blackout, as can be seen in this publication of El País on X and in other media publications on Facebook.
The regime threatens and blames the blockade
Cuba’s Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, admitted in the midst of the blackout that protests were taking place but described them as “minimal incidents”, calling the demonstrators “indecent” and “sellouts”, while Miguel Díaz-Canel threatened to respond with repression.
After concluding a meeting of the National Defense Council, Miguel Díaz-Canel, in military uniform, described what Cuba was experiencing as an “exceptional situation” which he attributed to the alleged economic war and financial persecution of the regime by the United States. “We will not allow acts of vandalism and much less alter the tranquility of our people, that is a conviction and a principle of our revolution,” he said in a threatening tone.
The regime’s position was also replicated in social networks with publications that blamed the blackout on the blockade, highlighting the use of words such as “provocado bloqueo” (in 30 publications), “bloqueo incesante” (in 29 publications), “culpa bloqueo” (in 15 publications) and “bloqueo económico” (in 12 publications).
In this sense, they highlighted a series of publications made by 8 accounts in X that used exactly the same text to assure that the blackout had been caused by the “incessant blockade by the US”, using as a source of information an article from the Venezuelan proxy media Venezuela News.
ProBox also found media publications quoting Díaz-Canel blaming the United States for the blackout due to the tightening of the blockade, as well as pro-government troops on X using tags such as #BloqueoGenocida and #TumbaElBloqueo in the context of publications on the collapse of the electricity system on the island and a publication by a Municipal Prosecutor’s Office celebrating the work to restore the electricity system despite “the suffocating conditions generated by the blockade”.
The crisis continues
The electric crisis does not end in Cuba. On Tuesday, October 29, the Electric Union (UNE) proceeded to take out of service unit 1 of the Felton Thermoelectric Plant, located in Holguin and one of the most stable generation blocks in the country. According to the entity’s official statement, the decision was taken to “carry out planned maintenance that cannot be postponed for ten days”.
During the 2024-2025 winter high season, the tourism sector in Cuba announced that it will have back-up electricity generators to prevent foreign visitors from being scared off by another blackout.
According to Giana Galindo Enriquez, commercial director of Cuba’s Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR), taking this measure “guarantees the maintenance of the viability of tourist services”, while the country’s inhabitants suffer from the Government’s inability to guarantee basic services such as electricity and drinking water.
The deficiencies in Cuba’s public services and the obscurantism surrounding the responsibility of the State in the midst of the energy collapse that the island is experiencing, cause serious tensions in a population that still remembers the repression experienced during the protests of July 11, 2021, when hundreds of Cubans were arrested and repressed for peacefully protesting for better living conditions.
