Cuba’s government has announced it will halt all non-vital state services and businesses for three days as it battles an energy crisis that has caused marathon blackouts for much of the country.

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero outlined the measures in an address Thursday night, saying the government had no choice but to “paralyse the economy.”

This includes shuttering all cultural activities and recreation centres such as discos, as well as public schools until Monday, Cuba’s state-run electricity union said in a release.

Marrero blamed the energy shortfall on a perfect storm well-known to most Cubans – deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand.

“The fuel shortage is the biggest factor,” Marrero said in the televised address, ironically punctuated by technical glitches.

Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel pinned the problem on the US’s “financial and energy persecution,” which he said had made it “difficult to import fuel and other resources necessary.”

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel walks through the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023 [Peter Dejong/AP]

Cuba hit by Venezuela crisis

Facing US sanctions, Cuba has long relied on subsidised Venezuelan oil, but that supply is increasingly precarious as Venezuela grapples with its own economic woes. And Venezuela’s allies Russia and China, have failed to send enough aid to fill the gap, despite expressions of political solidarity.

Despite the crippling blackouts and shortages, Cuba “is not yet in a bottomless abyss,” assured Marrero.

Twelve-hour blackouts

Millions of Cubans, long accustomed to frequent outages, have been hit by dramatically longer power blackouts recently, often stretching for 12 hours. Outside the capital, Havana, electricity is most scarce, often unavailable for over 18 hours a day.

Compounding the problem was the passage of Hurricane Milton last week, whose heavy gusts and waves hampered deliveries of fuel from boats offshore to power plants, according to Cuban officials.

In addition, the island’s two largest power plants, Antonio Guiteras and Felton, are both under-producing, the government said and will soon be taken off-line for maintenance, part of a four-year plan to revitalise Cuba’s decrepit infrastructure.

Finally, floating Turkish power ships that generate significant electricity for Cuba, ran out of fuel, causing them to shut off.

People watch a Turkey-flagged power ship arrive at Havana Bay in Cuba on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. [Ismael Francisco/AP]

A stiffer bill for businesses

Officials said they expect power generation to improve in the coming days as fuel is distributed around the Caribbean’s largest island with a population of 10 million residents.

However, Cuba’s fast-growing private businesses, which authorities say tend to be high consumers of electricity, will soon be charged higher rates for the energy they consume, Marrero said.

Cuba’s worsening electricity crisis made life increasingly unbearable for residents already suffering from crippling shortages of food, fuel, water and medicine.

Around five percent of the population – over 600,000 people – lack regular running water, according to government officials, a problem also blamed on the country’s crumbling infrastructure and fuel needs.

At the same time, reports indicate that violent crime is increasing on the island, particularly related to the emergence of a new cannabis-based drug called “quimico.”