Line up at a bakery in Old Havana trying to
make do without power. Most of the island's 10
million people still don't have it. State run media
says the national grid collapsed twice within 24 hours.
We're used to enduring everything in life because we can't
do anything else. Says this man on Saturday,
the government said it's making progress in re establishing service
including to hospitals and parts of Havana. The country's
top electricity official said the grid operator was trying to
boost capacity in the system to get several plants going
and bring power back to broader parts of the country
. He did not directly confirm the second grid collapse
, creating some confusion about what actually happened even before
the collapse, an electricity shortfall forced the communist run
government to send non essential state workers home on Friday
and cancel school for weeks. Blackouts have been getting
worse across much of the island sometimes lasting up to
20 hours a day. The government blames deteriorating infrastructure
, fuel shortages and rising demand. Cuba does not
produce much of its own crude oil. And this
year, Venezuela, Russia and Mexico all reduced exports
to the country. Officials say strong winds that began
with hurricane Milton last week complicated fuel delivery. Cuba
also says the US trade embargo and sanctions under former
President, Donald Trump make it harder to get fuel
and parts to run its oil fired plants. The
US has denied a role in the collapse.