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10 Million Cubans Suffer Nationwide Blackout - For The Second Time This Week (cnn.com) 114

Posted by EditorDavid from the power-to-the-people dept.
The Associated Press reports: An islandwide blackout struck Cuba on Friday for the second time this week as the nation of nearly 10 million people grapples with a crumbling power grid and fuel shortages stemming from a U.S. energy blockade...

Authorities reported that they have already begun restoring power to some areas. On Monday, another massive blackout affected nearly 10 million people nationwide. Authorities reported during the week that service was gradually being restored from that outage.
"While total blackouts have become increasingly common in the Caribbean country, it's unusual for back-to-back ones to hit just days apart..."

10 Million Cubans Suffer Nationwide Blackout - For The Second Time This Week More | Reply

10 Million Cubans Suffer Nationwide Blackout - For The Second Time This Week

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  • Picking on Cuba (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dskoll ( 99328 ) on Saturday July 11, 2026 @11:56PM (#66233864) Homepage

    While I understand that Cuba is currently under the thumb of an oppressive communist dictatorship, it seems to me the USA is unnecessarily picking on it, seeing as it doesn't pick on equally despicable dictatorships (Saudi Arabia; China) that are just as bad as Cuba but more powerful.

    I guess when Trump needs a distraction from Iran, he'll do a special military operation against Cuba.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by phantomfive ( 622387 )

      seeing as it doesn't pick on equally despicable dictatorships (Saudi Arabia; China) that are just as bad as Cuba but more powerful.

      It's hard to measure "better" and 'worse" among dictatorships. But, the US has definitely pressured Saudi Arabia (who has responded by giving women more rights among other things), and China (who has responded with counter-sanctions). But right now, the primary axis of international politics is not the spread of democracy.

      If you want to understand international politics right now, it's the US led world in favor of Pax Americana, against the Chinese led world that wants to create a multi-polar word (and ev

      • Re:Picking on Cuba (Score:4, Interesting)

        by arglebargle_xiv ( 2212710 ) on Sunday July 12, 2026 @02:59AM (#66233980)

        If you want to understand international politics right now, it's the US led world in favor of Pax Americana

        That may have been the case until about 20-30 years ago, but now it's most of the world wanting rules-based order up against an increasingly isolationist US led, if you can call it that, by a rapidly dementing authoritarian. The position "leader of the free world" has been vacant for at least 20 years.

      • Re:Picking on Cuba (Score:5, Informative)

        by NotEmmanuelGoldstein ( 6423622 ) on Sunday July 12, 2026 @03:35AM (#66234008)

        ... spread of democracy.

        That was never the point of US policy: The history of Iran and Cuba is ample evidence of that.

        It was about making every tinpot dictator protect the US economy, not the Russian economy, usually at significant cost to the local people. That's precisely what caused the 'rogue' nations of Iran and Cuba.

        • Re:Picking on Cuba (Score:4, Insightful)

          by MachineShedFred ( 621896 ) on Sunday July 12, 2026 @12:39PM (#66234568) Journal

          The word "never" makes you incorrect. See: the Marshall Plan.

          The US spent a lot of time, effort, and money rebuilding democracies in Europe after WW2. The USSR decided they needed to keep the spoils of war. The US, UK, and France gave it back to the people who owned it before Germany came knocking.

          I agree that it's not the point of US policy now. Now it's "me and mine" which is exactly the shit we don't need.

          • Marshal plan didn't come about for Democracy. It came about , just as mentioned earlier in the thread, to contain Russia , erstwhile USSR

            And there is a reason why Marshal plan didn't invole rest of the world, only western Europe - it is because it was the elite from western Europe who fled to USA during WW2 and had a soft spot for what they still consider their homeland.

            In fact, the university towns that supplied to industrial bases Germany were left unscathed and because a lot of allied forces were lead by

      • Re:Picking on Cuba (Score:5, Insightful)

        by gtall ( 79522 ) on Sunday July 12, 2026 @07:33AM (#66234170)

        "Trump has been taking out the vassal states (or allies) of China one by one."

        Bullshit, la Presidenta has been taking out targets of opportunity because he thinks he will get political gain out of doing it. Venezuela was easy, they were looking the other way when their dictator got stolen. And la Presidenta left the dictator's regime in place to continue to terrorize its people. China will have no trouble funding the new government which is the same as the old government.

        Iran is just sheer stupidity. All the experts said precisely what Iran would do and Iran did precisely that. Unfortunately for la Presidenta, he and his rodent, Hegseth, fired all the experts or at least the ones willing to give truthful advice. Now we have an even more virulent regime in Iran, but la Presidenta did unify its people. Before this, they wanted to see the regime's heads on pikes. Now they want to see his head on a pike.

        And if that dumbass wanted to screw China, he'd screw Russia which is now getting into bed with China, N. Korea is just icing for the Great Putini. Now Putin has his bitch in the Oval Office, Israel is an outcast, and the U.S. economy is headed down the rat hole with the rest of la Presidenta's "businesses".

        • And if that dumbass wanted to screw China, he'd screw Russia which is now getting into bed with China,

          His goal is to break the relationship between China and Russia, much like Kissinger did in the cold war. That happened right as Trump was at the age of becoming aware of politics.

          • And all he's doing is driving Russia and China closer together with his bullshit. So, like everything else he touches, he fucks it up and makes it worse.

            • So, like everything else he touches, he fucks it up and makes it worse.

              Just for the sake of argument, I'm trying to think of something he touched and didn't make worse.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Anonymous Coward
          LOL The biggest critics if the Iranian regime is still the Iranian people. They only wish Trump would finish the job faster.
          And now every gulf country also hates them as well.

      • Most of your thoughts are right.

        But China is not going to attack anyone.

        And: China is a better working democracy than the US 2 party system.

        • And: China is a better working democracy than the US 2 party system.

          No one believes that, not even Chinese people.

          • They do.

            as everyone can join the party and vote about everything.

            You can can only vote about a topic inside a party, and for some odd reason the other party nearly always takes the opposite stance.

            In China you vote, and the topic is settled, and it is mandatory for the parliament to draft laws according to vote.

            • No, not anyone can join the CCP, it's very selective and only a small percentage of Chinese citizens have that privilege.

              Without freedom of speech, it doesn't matter how good their election system is, it's not a fair system.

    • Re:Picking on Cuba (Score:4, Insightful)

      by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Sunday July 12, 2026 @02:48AM (#66233970)

      Cuba is a special case because, after the revolution, so many of the Batista supporters fled to Florida. The state has a lot of electoral votes; and, while it's solidly Republican now, people remember that it was more of a battleground in the not too distant past. So Republicans are very leery of doing anything that might piss off the Cuban-American contingent.

      • So Republicans are very leery of doing anything that might piss off the Cuban-American contingent.

        So where does threatening to deport them all fit into that narrative?

        Or are they they a politically protected set of migrants, and they just want to deport people that politically don't matter?

    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Picking on? That’s a Communist dictatorship parked 90 miles off American shores. Who Started It, began in the 1960s with JFK. No, you don’t get to simply dismiss the oppression of Communism with a “I understand”. As if the death toll demanded by that ideology is dismissible with some shitty retort given on the ass-end of a customer support line.

      And for the record, they’re called Weapons of Mass Distraction. Normally they’re only mildly warped in favor of a liberal le

      • ... fucking sales tactic of “socialism”.

        Mum!! The thousand monkeys have gotten into the typewriters, again. This time, they're sermonizing like time-traveling ferrets snorting cocaine.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by r1348 ( 2567295 )

        Yes, and you might recall that Cuba asking the Soviet Union to station missile bases on their territory was a reaction after the US stationed PGM-19 Juniper missiles in Turkey (1959) and the failed Bay of Pigs invasion (1961).
        The "they started it first" argument has very little basis.

      • "No, you don’t get to simply dismiss the oppression of Communism with a “I understand”. As if the death toll demanded by that ideology is dismissible with some shitty retort given on the ass-end of a customer support line."

        Empirically, we do. You can feel however you want about it; but it's a trivial matter of historical record that, say, Vietnam, had trade relations pick up from the 1990s on; and full PNTR status in late 2006 leading in to WTO membership in 2007(both under noted woke l

      • Who channeled the ghost of Senator McCarthy?

    • Re:Picking on Cuba (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Epeeist ( 2682 ) on Sunday July 12, 2026 @03:40AM (#66234016) Homepage

      While I understand that Cuba is currently under the thumb of an oppressive communist dictatorship

      How long (in decades) has the US had Cuba under sanctions? It is a hypothetical, but what do you think the country would have been like had those sanctions not existed?

      • Finally, a sane comment! If only I had mod points!

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by 0xG ( 712423 )

        While I understand that Cuba is currently under the thumb of an oppressive communist dictatorship

        How long (in decades) has the US had Cuba under sanctions?

        Thing is, the communist regime will be able to stay in power so long as they can blame all of their ills on an external enemy - the USA. Preventing energy shipments is likely to strengthen the regime's grip on the people, not weaken it.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 )

      ... it seems to me the USA is unnecessarily picking on it, seeing as it doesn't pick on equally despicable dictatorships (Saudi Arabia; China) that are just as bad as Cuba but more powerful.

      As with most bullies, Trump only picks fights with countries (and people, companies, institutions, etc...) he thinks he can easily push around (or will bribe him to go away) -- he miscalculated, and/or was lead astray by Netanyahu, with Iran. He also doesn't respect those who cave easily.

      • Before Trump Democratic presidents also picked on Cuba, as in Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Clinton, and Obama.

        I don't even know what our victory conditions might be now that Castro is dead.

    • A lot of it comes down to Cuban immigrants to the US skewing pretty sharply anti-present-government and being a voting bloc very much worth picking up. Basically mandatory in Florida; and helpful if less vital in a fair number of other states. They aren't necessarily rabidly single issue and trivial to pick up (especially for the purposes of primaries where there's generally more than one candidate promising disproportionate hostility to Cuba); but they do make being weirdly hostile to Cuba specifically mor

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shanen ( 462549 )

      Shhh... You aren't supposed to talk about the Cuban invasion. The invasion schedule depends on maximizing impact on the "election" in November. And this time the trick is going to work for sure! ALL those Cuban immigrants now living in America will be so surprised to find themselves drafted into the invasion force. Two birds with one stone time!

      Seriously, it's not like Cuba was ever real threat. Not even the level of economic threat that Venezuela once posed with the oil. But it would be funny if Rubio volu

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by whitroth ( 9367 )

      Have you read any other news than Faux? Let's see, "oppressive" - they don't have the death penalty, have a 99% literacy rate (the US: almost 30% of the US is functionally illiterate), and for decades, they were sending doctors around the world to Third-world countries (as opposed to the US, who loves sending military iad, period).

      No, most of their problem is the on-again-lesser-on-again blockade of Cuba by the US, an act of war.

    • it's kind of funny seeing Americans talking of China as "despicable" when the USA has bombed over 30 countries in the last century

  • The US cares nothing of the Cuban people (Score:4, Insightful)

    by oumuamua ( 6173784 ) on Sunday July 12, 2026 @12:59AM (#66233916)
    All they want is to topple the government, install a puppet regime and recover their 'stolen' assets from 60 years ago and get back to colonial extraction, like they are doing in Venezuela, How Marco Rubio Is Running Venezuela From Afar https://www.nytimes.com/2026/0... [nytimes.com]
    Want to see the real picture on Cuba:

    The War On Cuba is an award-winning documentary series executive-produced by Oliver Stone and Danny Glover that takes an in-depth look at the economic war waged by the U.S. government on the Cuban people.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

  • The US strategy (Score:5, Insightful)

    by peterww ( 6558522 ) on Sunday July 12, 2026 @01:30AM (#66233938)

    10 million people within spitting distance of America who now have a *renewed* reason for revenge. This administration is filled with geniuses.

    • 10 million people within spitting distance of America who now have a *renewed* reason for revenge. This administration is filled with geniuses.

      Very Stable ones!

    • The short distance is an issue. Cuba does seem to have the ability to fight back and inflict pain [militarnyi.com], even if they can't likely win.
      • The same distance! What a coincidence!
        US supplies weapons to Taiwan to protect its independence, these weapons are purely defensive.
        Iran & Russia supply weapons to Cuba to protect its independence, these weapons are purely defensive.
        The same reasoning! What a coincidence!
        Yes but Cuba bad! Don't buy into that propaganda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
        • Dictators are bad. There's no way around it.

          And frankly I think you are probably braindead for defending dictators. I don't know what your problem is or why you would do that. Even if you are communist, defending a dictator is anti-proletariat.

    • In practice it isn't enough to have a reason for revenge. Communism has proven remarkably resilient, and even the people of North Korea, despite having ample reason to exact revenge, have not been able to kill Kim (or his Cuban counterparts). Most people in history did not live in free countries, and even today, only a small set of countries have democracies (as flawed as ours are). This is why it's important for the populace to be armed and to zealously protect its rights - "renewed reasons for revenge" al

    • 10 million people within spitting distance of America who now have a *renewed* reason for revenge. This administration is filled with geniuses.

      You mean, the people who are willing to ride a piece of driftwood across the freakin' ocean because they'd rather live here than in their communist hellhole? Okay.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by 0xG ( 712423 )

      10 million people within spitting distance of America who now have a *renewed* reason for revenge. This administration is filled with geniuses.

      Exactly my point above. Giving them someone else to blame - rather than their own incompetence - keeps the communists in power!

    • 10 million people within spitting distance of America who now have a *renewed* reason for revenge. This administration is filled with geniuses.

      I'm really looking forward to the next half century of American idiots asking why the world hates us while they try to ignore that we have basically thrown a toddler fit with one of the world's largest and most well funded militaries.

  • Unsurprisingly, solar & BESS are expanding fas (Score:4, Informative)

    by shilly ( 142940 ) on Sunday July 12, 2026 @01:49AM (#66233950)

    But not as fast as I'd have imagined, tbh. 1GW added in 2025, which took renewables from 3 to 10% of Cuba's energy mix. I'd have imagined they'd have put in more like 5GW by now, but I guess they really are pretty small and poor, so it's tough for them to finance, whether at individual, institutional or national scale.

    I found both of these articles quite interesting:
    https://edition.cnn.com/2026/0... [cnn.com]

    https://www.aljazeera.com/feat... [aljazeera.com]

    • Cuba gets slammed by a lot of hurricanes, which are bad for both solar panels and wind turbines.

      • I've been through 100 mph winds that survived solar panels.
        But it's you're story I guess, so let's have it then, you cunt. Tell us about Cuba and solar panels ,please.

      • Cuba gets slammed by a lot of hurricanes, which are bad for both solar panels and wind turbines.

        Hurricanes aren't "bad" for any power generation. Power generation needs to take into account environmental effects in their design. That is all. That applies to solar, wind, gas, coal, nuclear, or whatever.

        The shoddy way you may choose to put your solar panels on your roof probably won't withstand a hurricane. That doesn't mean solar isn't suitable for an area that gets hit by hurricanes, it just means you did a shit design and installation job. Same for wind.

      • So does Florida, what’s your point?

    • If I understand it correctly, the installations are relatively big and tied to the grid.
      That means if there is a black out for what ever reason, they do not deliver power.

      I mean: if some main contributor goes down, it likely takes the whole grid down.

      Of course that depends on the overall architecture of the grid, I have no clue how they have done it.

      On the other hand in Germany and Thailand, we have many household installations, which continue to operate during a regional power outage.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by shilly ( 142940 )

        Cuba has a mix of domestic, institutional and national level installations, same as everywhere else, as I mentioned above. Why would you think it would be otherwise?

        • Because I did not see your "mentioned above"?

          The way of installations, picking your names, does not have anything to do how the grid works with them.

  • Thank goodness for my humidor!

  • You know, after World War II, the Soviet Union attempted to capture West Berlin by blockading it. They wound up giving way after an operation called "the Berlin Airlift", where the Allies dropped supplies into the city by parachute! Perhaps we could try that here.

    Oh. We're the bad guys here? ...ummm. Shit.

    Anyone? Is anyone prepared to drop humanitarian aid into Cuba?

  • Been this way for years ! Cuba still trying to uphold Communism !
    • Even worse: Cubans resisting the American moneyed interests that want to turn Cuba into an American hotel and business profit center. The nerve of those people.

    • Even Cuba has universal healthcare figured out. Why can’t we do that here?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by kackle ( 910159 )
        The only story I read about Cuba's medical system was from a vacationing Slashdotter whose kid was sick there. He said something to the effect that it was so behind that the doctor's office was close to what his home's medicine cabinet had.

      • On top of that world wide health care, the army of white coats https://www.internationalmagz.... [internationalmagz.com]

  • Horribly embarrassing... (Score:3)

    by fuzzyfuzzyfungus ( 1223518 ) on Sunday July 12, 2026 @09:06AM (#66234270) Journal
    Are we really just going to sit and take the fact that Cuba has already achieved the sort of electrical grid reliability that demented AI bros are setting billions of dollars on fire to try to bring to the US? This is an outrage!
  • Why have they not sent over ships loaded with solar, batteries, EVs, and teams of engineers (China likely has more engineers than Cuba has people) to make the place more resilient?

    • Why have they not sent over ships loaded with solar, batteries, EVs, and teams of engineers (China likely has more engineers than Cuba has people) to make the place more resilient?

      America is really good at blockading. China doesn't want to risk a confrontation right on America's doorstep.

  • https://www.timesnownews.com/w... [timesnownews.com]

    GAESA, a military-run conglomerate in Cuba, is more influential than the Communist Party, controlling 40% to 70% of the economy.

    Cuba can't be fixed until they are removed from power.

    • Why should I be concerned about what Cuba is doing?

      Quite the paradox you lay out. Too bumbling to govern the country properly while at the same time too dangerous to the USA to leave alone.

      Also how do you find these shady looking propaganda news sites?

  • They haven't even fixed the freedom of speech outage yet. That's been out for quite some time. Maybe they should kick out the commie dictators and vote in someone who's not going to run a network of crooked thieves that mismanage everything.

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