(4 Jun 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 26 May 2025
1. Idalmis Suárez, wife of Edinector Vázquez’s lighting an oil lamp
2. Various of Suárez and Vázquez preparing dinner
3. Vázquez cutting metal
4. Various of Vázquez cutting and welding the metal to make a charcoal stove
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Edinector Vázquez, blacksmith:
"You need to seek all kinds of solutions to go on; otherwise, you trap yourself in a cycle that’s pointless. It’s not easy with the heat and power cuts, you could even have a heart attack."
6. Various of Vázquez fanning charcoal with a pot lid
7. Vázquez and his wife cooking
8. Natividad Hernández carrying water and cleaning her solar panels
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Natividad Hernández, Hostel owner:
"When there is no electricity, I put the generator on. The panels do not work at night because they have no batteries, but living here in Cuba, I looked for a solution to the problems. I am working to buy the batteries and the power inverter to be able to use the panels when there is no electricity."
10. Various of woman reviewing ads on the online shopping pages
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 24 May 2025
11. Various of Marilyn Alvarez explaining the operation of a burner made with a heating element on a casserole lid
12. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Marylín Álvarez, cosmetologist:
"You have to cook with what you can when you can. If we have electricity, we rush to cook, but the moment we don’t, we have to go to the backyard to cook with charcoal."
13. Various of Ángel Rodríguez explaining the devices he has made to charge batteries
14. Various of Rodríguez connecting to the battery a TV that he made
15. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ángel Rodríguez, mechanic:
"The time will come when we will run out of ideas. If we continue with the blackouts, there will come a time when the batteries will not work, and then my family will not be able to watch television for a while."
16. Various of the Álvarez-Rodríguez family watching television ++ NIGHT SHOTS ++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 26 May 2025
++ NIGHT SHOTS ++
17. Various of the city in darkness due to power outages
18. Various of people in doorways with rechargeable lights
19. Man walking down the dark streets, cars driving by
STORYLINE:
For countless Cubans, the question is no longer if the power will go out, but when — forcing them to implement ingenious alternatives to sustain daily life as the island undergoes its most severe energy crisis in decades.
Electricity cuts, a problem for months, have intensified in recent weeks due to persistent fuel shortages at power plants and aging infrastructure.
With summer’s rising demand approaching and no apparent solution in sight, families face a grim outlook.
In the outskirts of Havana, 45-year-old blacksmith Edinector Vázquez and her wife Idalmis Suárez resort to an oil lamp to light their house.
But Vázquez has been busier than ever, serving a growing clientele in the less affluent areas of the capital.
He makes charcoal stoves from metal scraps that he sells for around $18 — the equivalent of a Cuban state worker’s monthly salary — but he says he offers discounts to low-income families.
"You need to seek all kinds of solutions to go on," Vázquez said. "It’s not easy with the heat and power cuts."
With more resources than the Vázquez, Natividad Hernández bought solar panels, but the budget did not yet allow her to install inverters and batteries, so she can only use them during the day.
But little progress has been made so far.
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News post in June 9, 2025, 3:04 am.
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