Cuba spends its second night in darkness

Following the widespread blackout that hit the Caribbean island on Friday, millions of Cubans spent their second night in the dark Saturday.

Authorities worked all day to restore power, but 24 hours after the blackout they had no choice but to acknowledge that progress was slow.

According to state media, "the restoration has not been as fast as specialists expect, but they are still working to achieve it in the shortest time."

Meanwhile, AFP reported that most of the island's 9.7 million inhabitants were still without power, after the general disconnection of the aging national electricity system was recorded on Friday night.

Following the incident, some citizens offered statements to AFP:

"Even if you don't want to, this situation upsets you. This is a house where there are children and old people, and there is not a drop of water, the food starts to spoil."Daymi Echenique, from Pinar del Río

According to electricity company UNE, this Saturday, independent microsystems had been activated in several provinces that power strategic sites such as hospitals, as well as water supply pumps.

Communist President Miguel Díaz-Canel also indicated in his X account that "several provinces have already set up their microsystems and the generation units are beginning to synchronize."

Problems with the restoration of electric service

The advances during the day were hindered and in some provinces such as Santiago de Cuba they were down. "All systems are without service," said the local power company.

On Friday night a failure at the Diezmero substation, on the outskirts of Havana, caused a major loss of power generation in western Cuba and with it the collapse of the National Electric System.