The Latin American Report # 386

“The year is gone... we lost everything, practically,” a farmer in the devastated Cuban province of Artemisa, which lost a significant plantain crop after Hurricane Rafael's violent passage early last month, told EFE. “There was not a single plantain plant left alive, the cassava was also crushed. It was what we had planted to produce,” says the farmer. There are still certain areas in the province without electric service since then, which translates into “a big, complex problem”, because until it recovers, it is not possible to plant or irrigate. “We are at a standstill,” says another farmer from Alquízar, the most important agricultural hub in the critical province of Artemisa, which supplies most of the farm products consumed in Havana, the country's capital.

Some 2,000 hectares of plantain and 300 hectares of cassava were hopelessly lost in Alquízar, while in all of Artemisa, 37,000 hectares dedicated to various crops were severely damaged after sustained rains and winds close to 200 kilometers per hour. In a country without foreign currency to import critical fuels and foodstuffs—or commodities to produce the latter—, the approximately 15 million dollars that Rafael “took” in terms of potential agricultural harvests is a hard surgical blow to its liver area, which is already quite damaged. Nevertheless, facing the resignation, the farmers believe that they will get ahead: “We don't know how to do anything else but produce”, says a still young producer of 30 years old (source for the images below 👇).

In the meantime, every day at the peak demand for electricity, practically half of the island is in off mode, in an exhausting dynamic for which, in my opinion, there are no immediate—or even mediate—answers. In addition to the lack of foreign currency and the extremely limited credit lines the country has, if any, there is the all-encompassing sanctioning arm of Washington, which prevents the smooth acquisition of fuel—the only Cuban state-importing company is flagged by the U.S. Treasury Department, not to mention the inclusion of Cuba in the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, nonsense.

The power generation network is mainly made up of decrepit, underperforming thermoelectric plants, which from time to time abruptly leave the network or are subjected to very discreet maintenance that is nothing more than simple patches. Fuel oil and diesel-powered electric generators scattered throughout the country and floating power plants complete the picture, but the shortage of fuel prevents the realization of their potential, already quite reduced in the first case due to the years of operation. For example, this Sunday alone there is a 380 MW generation deficit just due to the lack of fuel for the so-called distributed generation. The battered economy has not been able to recover in this context, and another year of decline is foreseen.

_Source

The Cuban government introduced a decree this week, not so much controversial as misunderstood, to regulate the control and efficient use of energy carriers and renewable energy sources. The measure, which does not directly affect the residential sector but mainly state and private economic actors, establishes, among other elements, that they must guarantee—in new high-consumer investments—50% of the electricity they consume during daytime peak-demand hours from renewable energy sources—the norm particularly mentions photovoltaic energy. Violations of the new provisions can result in the interruption of power service for 72 hours or fines. This is not at odds with other regulations being advanced in the region as several power national systems face climate-sourced pressures. Indeed, the Cuban decree is not cutting-edge enough.

But it is fine to accept that the demands simply exceed and will exceed the island's capacity to purchase fuel and generate electricity, and therefore it is reasonable to require new investments—which contemplate high energy consumption—to guarantee 50% of the energy they will "eat" between 11 am and 1 pm. Opening this critical sector to private investment—regular advice in these matters—is not even discussed. In the most misunderstood provision of the regulation, it is stated that “the Minister of Energy and Mines proposes [the activation of] the special electric contingency regime when the National Electroenergy System is unable to meet the demand [...] with the generation capacity, making it necessary to affect the electric service in a planned and sustained manner for more than 72 hours”.

_Source

Many have misunderstood this and contributed to the misinformation, because among so many tribulations—lack of electric energy or liquefied gas for cooking, or increasingly expensive food and medicines—people are losing their capacity to reason. Other actors of the information circuit have shamelessly operated in disinformation mode to feed the anxiety and produce more uneasiness in an increasingly irascible population. The first thing to remember is that the decree does not apply to the residential sector, but in any case, even for economic actors, the measures are aimed at paralyzing electric furnaces and air conditioning systems at peak hours, disconnecting refrigerators and other cooling equipment at the same times, or reducing lighting in facilities to 50%, among others. It is not contemplated, as has been maliciously suggested, to shut down entire municipalities or provinces for 72 hours, let alone the country. Although the Cuban government is rightly criticized because of its bad management, this is a tough but appropriate measure.

_Source

And this is all for our report today. I have referenced the sources dynamically in the text, and remember you can learn how and where to follow the LATAM trail news by reading my work here. Have a nice day.