Havana Energy Storage New Energy

The power outages also affect the internet, of which widespread access in Cuba is relatively recent, and which has contributed to expanding the scale of discontent and to the organization of some protests.

“The tourist arrives and sees that there is an energy situation; it makes the experience not good, and that they prefer other destinations,” Chino González, a Havana guide who asked not to use his real name, told CNN. He said these are factors that cause many travelers to decide not to visit the country again.

At state-run Copextel retail stores, a basic 1 KW generation module costs 2,551 MLC, pegged to the US dollar. The average salary in Cuba is 4,648 pesos (approximately $38.70) based on the official exchange rate of 120 pesos to one dollar.

Havana sits in darkness during a nationwide blackout caused by a grid on October 18, 2024. Link Copied! The smell of garbage is overwhelming and intense under the Caribbean sun. The accumulated waste is such that an entire street in Havana, far from its tourist district, was blocked to traffic.

Once the six gigabytes of subsidized plans are exceeded, those who need more data will have to pay from 3,360 Cuban pesos (about $140 at the official exchange rate or about $8.50 on the informal market) for just three additional gigabytes, according to the rate chart. Tourists walk along a street in Havana in October 2024.

Cuba's economy declined by 1.1% in 2024, according to the government, which since the end of 2023 has spoken of a “war economy” due to adverse conditions. Meanwhile, the United Nations' Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) projects it will contract even further this year, by 1.5%.