The Cuban activist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada reported on social networks, this May 8, a nighttime blackout at the “Conrado Benítez” Cancer Hospital in Santiago de Cuba, in the east of the island.
As reported on their Facebook profile, relatives of patients at that medical center sent photos and stated that since 7:30 pm they had no electricity and it was expected that they would be like that for several hours.
Mayeta Labrada explained that, according to witnesses, “the Power Plant or the Generator Group does not have the oil it carries and they are in a complete blackout.”
One of the relatives said that “the nurses and we are shining the phone flashlight on each other. “We called the Party and everywhere and they still keep cutting us off.”
The activist added that after a few hours he had “not received a report on the restoration of the electrical service at the Santiago hospital facility.
“Since my father was hospitalized (and he has been dead for a year and a half now) the plant already had problems, radiation could not be given when there was no power because it consumed a lot and overloaded the generating set, which was already damaged and with issues. I don’t even want to imagine what it will be like now,” said a user about the problems of this medical center.
This week, authorities from the Cuban Electrical Union (UNE) reported that the electrical situation was once again critical and that it would remain this way until the end of June, with several thermoelectric plants under maintenance and others unable to be used due to fuel shortages.
In mid-March, as a result of another energy crisis on the island, dozens of citizens took to the streets in the capital of Santiago in protest against the extensive blackouts and the critical situation in the province.
The protesters gathered under the cry of “flow and food”, according to several videos broadcast on social networks. They also shouted “Homeland and Life.”
In order to stop the protest, the regime sent a harrow with bags of rice to the demonstration area. A cart with milk also arrived for the corresponding warehouse.
More street protests are expected in the coming weeks over increasing blackouts, heat and food shortages.
