Cuban Economy

The recovery of the National Electric System is a top priority

For the economy and the well-being of the population, the recovery of the National Electric System is a top priority

The use of renewable energy sources will be multiplied, without neglecting other forms of generation

Author:  | internet@granma.cu

february 11, 2025 09:02:55

By 2025, the installation of 1,200 megawatts of capacity in photovoltaic solar farms is expected to be completed. Photo: Ricardo López Hevia

The recovery of the National Electric System is a top priority of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, due to the transversality of this activity in all sectors of the economy.
This was stated by the member of the Political Bureau of the Party and Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, at the annual work meeting of the organism, held yesterday at the Plenary Hall of the Palace of the Revolution.
In the presence of the First Secretary of the Party Central Committee and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, the Prime Minister insisted on the need to boost savings, since, despite the low availability of electricity, demand continues to be very high, with a tendency to increase.
He also stressed the need to advance in the use of renewable energy sources without neglecting other forms of generation.
Marrero Cruz referred to the negotiations to recapitalize and bring the country’s four refineries to their maximum exploitation point, as well as to increase the production of domestic crude oil for export and electricity generation.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE ELECTRICITY GENERATION SYSTEMS IN 2025?
Alfredo López Valdés, General Director of the Electric Union, explained that for this year the following is planned:
Conclude the assembly and commissioning of capacities to generate 1,200 megawatts (MW) in photovoltaic solar parks, with 200 MW of accumulation throughout the country.
Complete the maintenance of units 3 and 4 of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes thermoelectric power plant (CTE) in Cienfuegos; unit 2 of the Ernesto Guevara CTE in Santa Cruz del Norte; and unit 5 of the Antonio Maceo CTE in Santiago de Cuba.
Secure financing and put into effect the contract for the recovery of unit 2 of CTE Lidio Ramón Pérez de Felton, in Holguín, affected by a major fire in 2022.
Ensure the financing and execution of capital maintenance at CTE Antonio Guiteras, in Matanzas.
Recover 850 MW of availability in distributed generation: 520 MW in diesel-based engines, and 330 MW in those running on fuel oil.
Progress in the construction of the Herradura I wind farm in Las Tunas, where 22 of the 33 generators planned have been installed, representing 33 MW.
RESULTS AND WORK PROJECTIONS
Argelio Jesús Abad Vigoa, First Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines, while presenting the work results derived from the President of the Republic’s indications in the balance corresponding to 2023, specified that, out of the ten recommendations, four have been fulfilled and six are in process.
He pointed out that, as regards the installation of small photovoltaic systems, mainly for pumping water to supply water to the population and for irrigation, 804 of the 1,071 that have been imported have been installed.
He detailed that all the refined crude oil has been processed, although the processing levels of the industry have not yet been reached.
For his part, Vicente de la O Levy, head of Minem, summarized the main negative impacts of the sector in the previous year, marked by the fuel deficit, the withdrawal of five floating power plants, the shortage of liquefied petroleum gas, and the deterioration of the facilities for electricity generation.
He affirmed that many variables converge in the above, one of them is our own weakness, but the one that has the greatest impact is the intensified blockade imposed by the U.S. government.
DEVELOPMENT OF DIGITAL GOVERNMENT
Regarding the implementation and management of Digital Government strategies, executives stated that progress is being made in the creation of platforms and systems for the management of processes in the Top Management Business Organizations, as well as in the reinforcement of cybersecurity in critical entities.
Regarding the use of electronic payment channels for the commercialization of services, it was reported that more than three million customers regularly make their electricity payments through the EnZona and Transfermóvil gateways. In addition, last year, 76.1 % of the service billing was collected in this way.
The collection management for liquefied gas and manufactured gas services is also tending to increase through these channels.
This working meeting was also attended by the Deputy Prime Ministers, Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés Menéndez and Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, as well as other ministers.

Palestine

Together with Palestine: Always!

Millions of Cubans have become part of a struggle that has added hearts from all latitudes

Author:  | internet@granma.cu

february 7, 2025 09:02:48

March for the freedom of Palestine and against genocide, from the Fragua Martiana to the José Martí Anti-imperialist Tribune Photo: Jose M. Correa

Since October 7, 2023, the beginning of one of the cruelest genocides that humanity remembers and will remember, Israel’s massacre against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, Cuba has made clear its position, not only of condemnation of the crime, or of perennial denunciation of the violation of the rights of innocent civilians, but also of recognition of the Palestinian State.
Deep bonds of friendship unite us with this people, brave and defending their land to the last consequences -like us-. Cuba has loudly expressed its condemnation of the harsh reality that the Palestinians have been facing for decades, erased from their own map, as Israel and the U.S. now want to do, after a long genocide: to remove them forever from their lands.
This feeling of solidarity has mobilized millions of Cubans, who from squares, schools, workplaces, social networks and even with the use of the traditional Palestinian kufiya, have become part of a struggle that has added hearts.
Our side is the side of justice, the side of truth, the side that gives voice to the thousands of children, women, young people, the elderly, and parents, silenced under the roar of bombs made in the U.S., in front of unarmed and defenseless people.
It is no coincidence that Cuba then occupies the Vice-Presidency of the Committee for the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, a gesture that honors us, and that we assume with the commitment that “the unjust should not be indifferent to us”.
At the United Nations, we will continue to be a pillar in calling for a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the recognition of an independent Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders.
This was made clear yesterday by the ambassador, permanent representative of Cuba to the United Nations, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, who also stated that we will continue to denounce the crimes committed in the West Bank and the power that obstructs aid to those who every day find it an ordeal to look for water, food or the most basic services.
Cuba was, is and will always be, together with the Palestinian people.

CUBA United Nations

  paranoid and isolationist vision Trump

All the world consensus that the UN manages in terms of health, climate change, denouncing the genocide against Palestine, human rights… will be “wrong” as long as it does not suit the United States

Author:  | informacion@granmai.cu

february 6, 2025 11:02:46

Photo: EFE

Following the policy of breaking with any national or international institution considered as not convenient to the hegemonic interests of the United States, the current administration in Washington has taken another alarming step towards isolation and unilateralism.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order to end U.S. participation in the UN Human Rights Council, and continue the suspension of funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa).

“I have always felt that the UN has enormous potential, but it is not fulfilling it at the moment. For a long time it has been ineffective. There are high hopes for it, but, to be honest, it’s not well managed,” Trump said at the White House.

Will Scharf, an advisor to the president, in presenting the document for signature, asserted that the decision was made “in light of the numerous actions taken by various United Nations agencies that demonstrate a deep anti-U.S. bias.”

These actions accentuate the White House’s backtracking on its commitment to the UN, not only isolating the country from the concert of nations, but also undermining the vital work of these organizations in protecting the most vulnerable.

The fallacious accusation that the Human Rights Council “enables” countries like Iran, China and Cuba to “shield” themselves from criticism ignores the efforts of member states, including the aforementioned, to address human rights violations around the world.

Donald Trump attempts to justify such action with criticism of the ineffectiveness of the UN, which he accuses of being “anti-Israel”. This position, which is not new, reinforces the U.S. approach of a priori defense of Zionism and its complicity in crimes against the Palestinian people.

In that sense, the suspension of funds to Unrwa, a vital agency for Palestinian refugees, aggravates the already precarious humanitarian crisis in the region.

It should be clarified that Trump’s decree goes beyond the exit from the Human Rights Council, he also intends to review Washington’s participation in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

What else to expect from one who intends to eliminate the Department of Education in his own country?

These measures, added to the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Agreement, evidence a clear tendency to ignore international commitments and dismantle the multilateral system built after World War II.

Human Rights

U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay could become immigration detention center

U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay could become immigration detention center

Author:  | internet@granma.cu

january 30, 2025 09:01:46

Once again, because of a White House decision, there will be a hell for prisoners at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo Photo: CNN

“In an act of brutality, the new U.S. government announces the imprisonment, at the Guantánamo Naval Base, located in illegally occupied Cuban territory, of thousands of migrants that it is forcibly expelling, who will be placed next to the well-known prisons of torture and illegal detention”.
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, wrote in X after learning that the Guantánamo Naval Base – which, in addition to being illegal, harbors unimaginable torture and violations of all kinds against human rights – will now also be a detention center for some 30,000 immigrants, as announced by President Donald Trump.
Although none of his controversial decisions have caused too much astonishment (coming from where they come from), it is still outrageous that he now intends to turn the territory -which, as the whole world knows, does not belong to them- into part of his strategy to remove from the United States thousands of people who have set foot in that country in search of the so-called American dream.
At the signing ceremony of the Laken Riley Act, Trump spoke about an executive order for the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the facility for such purposes, without elaborating too much on the procedure by which the transfer will be executed.
Since his ascension, for the second time, to the presidential chair, the multimillionaire, known for his discriminatory anti-immigrant behavior, has taken the harshest measures in favor of a “cleansing”, which will have terrible consequences, even for unborn children.
In the midst of this context, the new announcement comes to light, which once again puts the Guantánamo Naval Base in the spotlight of international opinion. Many horrors have been committed there, from the kidnapping and murder of Cuban citizens, to serving as a crime and torture laboratory, under the justification of the war against terrorism. So far, the attempts, announcements and promises to close the prison located on the base have remained only in words and, evidently, it will not be now that they will do it.
What is certain is that, under the political-electoral pretext of a “cleansing of illegal people who have invaded the soil that does not belong to them”, the champions of “freedom and human rights” have found a way out of the crisis they are creating for themselves, by transferring thousands of their deportees to that corner of Cuban land that the U.S. has usurped, in its shameless condition as an “illegal foreign government that has invaded the soil that does not belong to it”.