Canadian in Cuba calls on others to stay home

Much of Cuba was left powerless on Monday, plunged into days of darkness after four power grid collapses in 48 hours.

Because there is no electricity, people are forced to cook on open campfires along the streets, and if there are no working appliances, the food breaks down.

The outage has also forced schools and workplaces in the country to close.

“There are mountains of garbage and rats running around,” said Jonathon Renko, a Canadian currently visiting Cuba.

“The Cuban people are suffering, it’s so sad to see, people are hungry, people are thirsty. The line of people I’ve seen, of people just trying to get bread, is probably half a kilometer long,” he said .

Renko added that the resorts have generators, but many are no longer working and most restaurants are closed. He said it was hard to find a bottle of water.

He and others are desperate to get home.

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“I have a hundred people here at the resort wanting to leave, I have their names, oh… there you go, the power is out again,” he said in a Zoom interview with Global News, as his hotel room suddenly went dark. “That’s where the air conditioning goes for tonight,” he sighed.

Renko has family in Cuba and visits often, but admits he has never seen anything like what people there are experiencing now.

He said hotel staff are exhausted and despite services being scarce, tourists are still arriving.

“These poor people have no idea what they are getting into and not only that, they can’t even check them in because there is no electricity, they couldn’t activate their cards to let these poor people in, so you have 300-400 people in the lobby, all panicking, screaming and fighting… it’s bad,” he said.

The islandwide power outage occurred at the same time as Hurricane Oscar made landfall on the eastern side of the country, causing high winds and some flooding.

Cuba is also currently facing a severe economic crisis, with widespread shortages of everything from medicine to fuel.

“Power outages are not uncommon in Cuba, but the scale of this particular outage is unprecedented. There are issues with aging infrastructure and fuel shortages,” said Amelia Kiddle, associate professor of Latin American history at the University of Calgary.

“They relied mainly on fuel from Venezuela, but Venezuela has been experiencing its own humanitarian crisis in recent years,” she said.

There are fears that this situation could develop into a much larger humanitarian crisis, and some are again calling for the United States to lift the trade embargo.

“We are doing everything we can to end the blockade, the blockade is the biggest problem. If they let the Cubans do their thing, you’re not going to change the system there,” said Arturo Pinochet, a member of the Calgary-Cuban Friendship Association.

Although Cuba relies heavily on tourism, Jonathan Renko is urging others to stay home, at least until the power crisis is resolved.

“This is not the Cuba I know,” he said, adding that he was finally able to book an early flight home on Wednesday.

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