Havana/“We are still waiting for reports of disasters and accidents in the last five years,” lamented one reader of Cubadebate this Friday, at the foot of the announcement of the extinguishing of the fire in a fuel tank at the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant. The incident at the Matanzas plant is the most recent in a list of events, from the explosion at the Saratoga hotel to the destruction of the Supertanker Base, about the causes of which the Cuban authorities have maintained strict silence.
The official report assures that the fire has already been put out by firefighters from Matanzas, Havana and Mayabeque. They claim that the fire “originated in one of the fuel tanks,” but they do not say what could have started it. “We are investigating the causes. There was a repair process on the ladder of that tank, necessary to access its proper operation, and this fire arose,” the city’s fire chief, Ernesto Torres, limited himself to saying, hermetically.
The burning tank could have stored 10,000 cubic meters of Cuban crude oil, but it is not clear how much fuel was lost although they allude to a “considerable level.” “It was practically full,” a local radio station said this Friday. Guiteras already “stablely generates” its usual 260 megawatts of electricity, they noted, with the help of the “twin” tank of the one that caught fire this Friday. Now, “an immense layer of foam covers the place.”
The burned tank could store 10,000 cubic meters of Cuban crude oil, but it is not clear how much fuel was lost.
The press has avoided referring to the history of accidents in Matanzas and has downplayed the seriousness of the new incident. Torres admitted that it was a fire of “operational complexity,” but “regular” dimensions. “It takes time and strategy to quell it,” he clarified.
Only Luis Guzmán, chief of the Cuban Fire Department, assures that “so far there is no suspicion that it was caused (intentionally)” and admits that the fire “brought to memory very difficult days of the past.”
This Saturday, the article about the fire had taken a back seat on the front page of Cubadebate, but the readers continue their discussion. “The factor of human negligence” is a constant, they argue. “The level of qualified force in all branches of society dropped,” observes another. There are those who dare to speak of “the hand of the enemy”, which sends to the Island “sabotage groups, recruited by capitalist intelligence based in the embassies, and all those who cooperate with the counterrevolution.”
“I do not rule out the possibility of sabotage at all, but we have become accustomed to blaming others. Also look at the poor conditions of our facilities and the difficulties with which we work,” reasoned another reader, in response to those who asked to lock up “the counterrevolutionaries.” ” as was done during the October Crisis “in the Sports City”, and send them to “Compulsory Labor Farms”, to avoid more “misdeeds”.
The fire in Guiteras began between 10:00 and 11:00 in the morning, according to Cuban Television
The fire in Guiteras began between 10:00 and 11:00 in the morning, according to Cuban Television. During the initial phase of the incident, a column of dense black smoke could be seen from several kilometers away, not far from the Matanzas Supertanker Base. The Ministry of Energy and Mines, cited by the state press, stressed that the plant workers were evacuated.
This Friday, the Facebook profile of the official radio station Radio 26 speculated that the flames could have originated from the “maintenance work that was being carried out in the area.” For his part, Ruben Olmos, director of the plant, alleged that “any situation can ignite this fuel.”
The country’s energy situation could not be worse. With eight units out of service due to breakdown, maintenance or lack of fuel (at the Mariel, Santa Cruz, Renté, Felton, Nuevitas and Cienfuegos thermoelectric plants). This Friday there was a deficit of 972 megawatts (MW), one of the highest values recorded in recent weeks, although the previous day was even worse, with an impact of 1,270 MW.
