Cubans rendered powerless as outages persist and tensions with US escalate(apnews.com)
62 pointsby petethomas5 hours ago10 comments
  • goda905 hours ago
    This really illustrates how important it is to switch to renewable energy. I know it's not an easy task for impoverished communities to get the startup capital to install solar+batteries, especially one in such a politically tumultuous position, but that really is a path to stability for so many people around the world.

    A YouTuber known for talking about dishwashers and Christmas lights recently put out a long rant about how ridiculous it is that humanity still leans so much on single use fuels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeGM

    • rented_mule3 hours ago
      A fascinating takeaway from that video for me... If you take the US land that is dedicated to growing corn for ethanol that is put in gasoline, and replace all the corn on that land with solar panels, how much energy would it produce? Twice today's total electrical generation in the US, from all sources. And that's in the corn belt, which is far from ideal for solar. It would be billions of panels, but it's a pretty interesting perspective on the questions about the land use requirements of solar.
      • nozzlegear11 minutes ago
        Another genuine question: I wonder how that would change the climate in those areas. I live in Iowa and "corn sweat" is a thing that never fails to make several weeks of summer completely unbearable.
      • pfdietz2 hours ago
        It shows that bioenergy is very land inefficient.

        There was a book about renewable energy in Britain about 17 years ago, "Sustainable Energy -- Without the Hot Air" that tried to make the argument that renewables could not power Britain, there wasn't enough land. But if you drilled down, this conclusion was due to use of biofuels.

      • johng3 hours ago
        Genuine question: How much energy, minerals, transportation, manufacturing, etc, etc. goes into making the panels. How much are the panels going to make back percentage wise in it's lifetime vs. the cost to make and transport, install?

        Corn kind of reproduces itself every year (If you don't get the GMO kind), so you only need natural resources to continue to grow it right? Water, sunlight and labor?

        • MrDrMcCoy3 hours ago
          He goes over that in the video. It's long, but very much worth watching.
        • tfyoung2 hours ago
          > Corn kind of reproduces itself every year (If you don't get the GMO kind), so you only need natural resources to continue to grow it right? Water, sunlight and labor?

          At industrial scale, it has a huge petro-chemical fertiliser input.

          • pfdietz2 hours ago
            Total energy input to agriculture in the US is less than 2% of total energy consumption. So "huge" there has to be taken in context.

            All the energy inputs to agriculture could be replaced with non-fossil inputs. Fertilizer in particular needs hydrogen to make ammonia, but that can be produced from non-fossil sources.

    • cosmic_cheese4 hours ago
      Extensive deployment of renewables and battery storage is perhaps the best thing that can be done anywhere (even in developed countries) for making the grid more robust. Not only is there no fuel supply to be cut off, targets become too diffuse and decentralized to take out quickly, especially if you can manage to cover 30-40% of cities with rooftop solar.
      • bryanlarsen4 hours ago
        You can hit a solar plant with a missile, and it can be back in operation with a reduced capacity within a week:

        https://www.wanhossolars.com/news/ukrainian-solar-power-plan...

        • pixl973 hours ago
          Honestly I'm not sure if it would take a week in most cases, just took this long in this case. Its really not worth going after the panels with a conventional missile. Maybe something that explodes well above it and litters it with ball bearings would be far more effective.
          • toomuchtodo3 hours ago
            If you know it’s coming, you can command the panels on single axis trackers to avoid damage. This is done today for hail and hurricane risk. Panels are also rated to withstand all but the most aggressive hail.
    • lokar2 hours ago
      I think of him as known for his thoughts on the “color” brown.
    • propagandist4 hours ago
      It also illustrates the importance of not getting caught on the wrong side of the global hegemon right next door who can choke you out and prevent you from importing energy and integrating with the global economy.

      A lot of food for thought all around.

      • nradov2 hours ago
        It also illustrates the importance of not wrecking your own economy through pursuing socialist policies and driving the most productive people out of the country.
        • lokar2 hours ago
          Is that your summary of the causes, goals and impacts of the Cuban revolution?
          • nradov2 hours ago
            Causes and goals, no. Impacts, yes. Regardless of intent, socialism inevitably destroys everything it touches.
            • lokar2 hours ago
              Or, a prolonged embargo, threats of invasion, actual attempts at invasion, diplomatic pressure to isolate, etc all by the most powerful empire in history on your doorstep destroyed everything.

              It’s pretty hard to sort out after the fact.

              • nozzlegear6 minutes ago
                That's just a longer way of saying socialism inevitably destroys everything it touches.
        • FpUser2 hours ago
          The way things are going it looks like late capitalism is on a way to eventually catch up. And all 2.5 "productive" people left would own the world and the rest will be cattle, potentially culled to keep things in check
      • mothballed4 hours ago
        That's definitely part of the equation, but the blockade has been over for a long while. They have suffered not only the brutal effect of US colonization/hegemony but also the brutal effect of the legacy of Castro's brand of economics. If they were just suffering one or the other, they'd be significantly better off.

        Edit since I am throttled on posts and cannot reply below: The US briefly blockaded Cuba in the 60s, but they have only embargoed them since then. They are not blocked from international trade by the US, except with the US. There is no meaningful block from Cuba engaging in the greater international non-US "global economy" such as EU,Asia, etc.

        • neves3 hours ago
          You are wrong. Any company that wants to do business with USA must also join the embargo.
          • mothballed3 hours ago
            This is a bald-faced lie.

            For instance, I can buy Malibu rum, no matter that Pernod Ricard does business with Cuba. Or flights in USA with Air France, no matter that they also do business in Havana. Or ZTE phones which are imported into both USA and Cuba from China (carrier limitations but only because USA government won't do business with ZTE associated businesses, not because they can't be sold in USA). Or Sinopec (oil) which does business in USA including a large investment of presence in Texas but also does business with Cuba.

            Yes your blanket any is a lot more applicable if you said the truth which is any business that wants to do business with USA federal government which is much closer to the truth (but even then, Sinopec for instance has through its subsidiaries been allowed to bid on strategic oil reserve transactions no matter their ownership is a major trader with Cuba).

            Cuba is actively trading with EU, Asian, etc companies that are also trading with USA.

        • user9824 hours ago
          > the blockade has been over for a long while.

          What are you talking about?

          • bryanlarsen4 hours ago
            The embargo was partially lifted in 2015. The article is about the effects of the re-tightening in 2025.
            • user9823 hours ago
              > The embargo was partially lifted in 2015

              And then reinstated in 2017. How has that been "over for a long while"?

    • lstodd4 hours ago
      > At length I remembered the last resort of a great princess who, when told that the peasants had no bread, replied: "Then let them eat brioches."
    • buckle80174 hours ago
      Much of the developing world is close enough to the equator that solar and batteries just have to last a few days.

      In most developed countries solar is seasonal.

    • NedF43 minutes ago
      [dead]
  • giancarlostoro4 hours ago
    I have a coworker from Cuba, her grandmother still lives there, this has been going on for about 2 years. She had sent her grandmother a power generator thinking she could just buy gas, but when it became apparent that they have gas shortages, she bought her grandmother a solar based one, this was several months ago if I remember correctly.
  • D-Machine4 hours ago
    Cuba is dying and collapsing, with this kind of issue being just a part of a broader systemic set of causes. It is a serious tragedy and humanitarian crisis. If people aren't aware of how bad it is: they haven't had reliable food and electricity for a while now, even parts of Havana and other cities look eerily like a ghost town, and it seems as if almost anyone that is able to has been fleeing.

    "Compared to the peak of 11.2 million inhabitants reached in 2012 – the year of the last census – Cuba has lost 13% of its population. [...] A quarter of the island's population is aged 60 and over, and it is the only demographic category that has grown in recent years"

    https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/04/30/c...

    • einszwei3 hours ago
      The fact that percentage of older population increased is a dead giveaway that most young people are migrating (to US most likely) and more akin to exodus.

      A very similar pattern to Venezuela which saw a similar exodus.

  • neves3 hours ago
    A friend of mine works at SAP, the major German software company. Because they do business with American firms, he had to complete required corporate training on U.S. government restrictions regarding certain countries. The restrictions had different tiers, with only two nations placed in the most severe category: Iran and the peaceful island of Cuba.
    • bpt33 hours ago
      Your "friend" wasn't paying much attention because there are more than those two countries on the list, and you should ask the residents of Cuba exactly how peaceful their government is.
      • lokar2 hours ago
        More of less peaceful than Batista? To whom? And for whose benefit?
        • bpt32 hours ago
          If you actually want a response, you probably should form questions as full sentences.
  • mperham4 hours ago
    The fossil fuel industry has stolen the bulk of Cuba’s income. Need to switch to solar and batteries to onshore your energy production. China could help here and get a big diplomatic win if they were to give Cuba subsidized access to their clean energy assets.
    • kyboren3 hours ago
      No, the shitty regime has stolen, squandered, and prevented the vast majority of Cuba's (potential) income.

      They've received free oil from Venezuela, Mexico, and Russia for decades. This whole crisis is because the country is horribly mismanaged and the free ride is over.

      Most countries have to purchase their oil at market prices. Cuba has been spared that burden yet is still worse off than the average country.

      IIRC both Russia and China have demanded economic reforms which are not forthcoming. The Chinese aren't stupid and they don't seem too interested in pissing their money away indefinitely on a 'partner' who ignores them.

      • pessimizer2 hours ago
        The entire crisis is because the US has been abusing Cuba since Batista fell, don't get confused. The idea that Cuba is being coddled because it isn't paying market prices when the US has been excluding it from the market for your entire life and most of your parents' lives is sadistic and cynical.

        You don't get to criticize the quality of someone's system until you take your foot off their neck.

    • onetokeoverthe4 hours ago
      [dead]
    • pestatije3 hours ago
      yeah where is China when you need them?... something doesn't add up here, worried about how orangetan might react?
  • SilentM68an hour ago
    It would help the discussion if more historical context can be provided about the island, economy, history, business partners, before forming an opinion since most opinions tend to be a little biased: https://historical-cuba-info.pagedrop.io
  • rballpug3 hours ago
    Phenomenological reduction. Cloudflare report on IPv4/IPv6 autonomous systems.

    AS27725 shows 96.3% byte uptime over HTTPS. Clangable. https://radar.cloudflare.com/as27725

  • standardUser4 hours ago
    I recall visiting Cuba during the second term of Obama (shortly after his visit) and seeing the various reforms that were taking place and feeling very optimistic about the island's future. We saw a lot of highly political art on display, ate at some of the first private restaurants, watched a helicopter explode overt the ocean as they were filming a Fast and Furious film, and went to a nightclub/art show event that rivaled anything I've been to in NYC.

    In a sane world, we would be Cuba's largest trading partner and largest source of tourists. In that hypothetical world, the ongoing economic and cultural exchange would have propelled the island towards a different political system. Instead, we doubled down on an approach that has failed for 70+ years.

    • giancarlostoro4 hours ago
      In that same world we have Puerto Rico with a fragile power grid. I'm not sure what the best course of action is for Puerto Rico, I am from the Island, and there's just way too many issues on the island, the biggest thing I do know is that the old tax incentives made the island thrive drastically. There was a point in time where Puerto Rico was as high up in terms of production quality as Japan, above the US itself. A lot of pharmaceuticals come from Puerto Rico, so much so that hospitals in Florida have shortages if the Island loses power due to a major hurricane.
      • alisonatwork3 hours ago
        The power grid problems islands have is a really interesting topic. Just the other day I read an interview discussing Taiwan's energy situation[0] and even though I am familiar with the various factions and the surface level debate, it prompted me to think a bit deeper on the unique challenges islands have as marginalized geographic entities. I didn't grow up on an island so I'm not sure if people who do are more conscious of the precarity, but you'd think if they did then they would place even more emphasis on getting energy independence. It's one of those things that would be cool to study if I could go back in time and choose a different specialization...

        [0] https://www.volts.wtf/p/taiwans-energy-dilemma

    • logicx244 hours ago
      > the ongoing economic and cultural exchange would have propelled the island towards a different political system

      The blocker to this has always been the government refusing to reform. I don't see how increased exchange changes this. If anything, the Cuban government would've blocked any integration that threatens their control.

    • bpt33 hours ago
      > we doubled down on an approach that has failed for 70+ years.

      I assume by "we", you mean the Cuban leaders who have clung to power and their repressive ways against the best interests of the population?

      • xg153 hours ago
        I think GP means the US sanctions. On that note, what bad thing would happen if the US simply lifted them?
        • bpt32 hours ago
          A regime that has antagonized the US and mistreated its subjects for decades would obtain more resources.
        • pessimizer2 hours ago
          We'd run the risk that they'd be successful.
  • breakyerself4 hours ago
    [flagged]
  • 5 hours ago
    undefined