Weekly Report - 13 September 2012 (WR-12-36)

CUBA | Blackout. Cuba last week suffered its worst blackout in a decade after much of the west was hit, with the capital, Havana, and seven provinces (Artemisa, Ciego de Avila, Cienfuegos, Matanzas, Mayabeque, Pinar del Río and Villa Clara) left without electricity for over four hours on 9 September. In a statement cited in the international press, the Ministry of Basic Industry blamed the outage on an “interruption” in a 220,000-volt line between the cities of Ciego de Avila and Santa Clara, affecting service from Camagüey to Pinar del Río, or 60% of the island. Some 5m Cubans, almost half the population of 11m, were affected. The blackout inevitably evoked memories of the ‘special period’ after the fall of the Soviet Union during which Cubans endured severe electricity shortages.

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