The energy situation in Cuba continues to deteriorate in a serious and systemic way, with increasingly heavy consequences on the daily lives of the population and on the functioning of essential services. Prolonged blackouts, fuel shortages and the progressive weakening of energy infrastructure are aggravating an already extremely fragile condition.

“Urgent intervention by the international community is needed to address the structural causes of the crisis and put an end to the US embargo, which is considered illegitimate and one of the main factors of suffering for the country,” says Federico Mei, ARCS coordinator in Cuba.

The fuel shortage is also structurally undermining national public transport, including strategic links for the tourism sector, with direct repercussions on internal mobility and the local economy. At the same time, the energy crisis has been further aggravated by the new breakdown of the Guiteras thermoelectric plant, which in recent weeks had only temporarily relieved pressure on the national electricity system, revealing its overall fragility.

The country is experiencing a widespread and prolonged intensification of blackouts, affecting both urban and outlying areas. In some provinces, such as Matanzas, power outages can exceed 80 consecutive hours, with extremely severe impacts on daily life and essential services. Even in the central districts of Havana the situation remains critical, with blackouts reaching 20–26 hours, alternating with brief windows of power supply, often limited to a few hours.

This condition forces families to compress all essential domestic activities into increasingly narrow intervals, turning daily management into a constant race against the clock every time electricity becomes available.

Alongside the material hardships, the psychological toll is also intensifying, fuelled by a state of constant uncertainty. The information in circulation is often contradictory, oscillating between possible arrivals of energy supplies and speculation about US military intervention, contributing to rising tension and social instability.

The crisis is also directly hitting the cultural sector, which has always been central to Cuban social life. Numerous theatres, cinemas and performance and exhibition spaces have been forced to close or drastically reduce their activities, with a progressive weakening of cultural provision. The few venues still operating manage to function only thanks to private generators, but are often effectively inaccessible in the evening hours, due to the lack of transport and the widespread darkness that envelops the cities.

Despite this extremely complex context, our activities continue to be carried out in the field, adapting to difficult conditions and keeping ongoing cooperation programmes alive. The work continues amid interruptions, logistical difficulties and infrastructure constraints, with the aim of ensuring continuity for projects and support for the communities involved.

What we are doing

Among other activities, ARCS in Havana supports the Food and Nutritional Security Programme in the Belén neighbourhood, where more than 600 people receive assistance: food goods and milk are distributed to meet basic needs, with interventions that intensify as the crisis worsens.

At the same time, in Matanzas the Zone Creative project mission continues, funded by Italian cooperation, amid logistical and infrastructural difficulties, with the aim of ensuring continuity of work and supporting local cultural processes.

In the province of Pinar del Río, moreover, the contract signing phase has now been reached for the supply of a gasifier powered by forest biomass, intended for electricity generation. An intervention that can concretely contribute to improving the daily living conditions of a community of around 6,000 people in the municipality of Guane, strengthening access to energy through a sustainable solution rooted in local resources.