Cuba hit by widespread blackout; Ecuador expels Havana ambassador, staff | Political news

Cuba’s ambassador to Ecuador, Basilio Gutierrez, and his diplomatic staff were given 48 hours to leave Quito.

The state power utility said the power outages hit much of Cuba, including the capital Havana, as the administration of United States President Donald Trump continues efforts to undermine the Caribbean nation by cutting key oil shipments.

News of the widespread power outages emerged on Wednesday as the country’s diplomatic ties with Latin American neighbor Ecuador soured after Havana’s top ambassador and diplomatic staff were expelled from Ecuador’s capital, Quito.

Cuban state media outlet Cubadebate said the blackout was caused by a fault at the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, located about 100km (62 miles) east of Havana, cutting power from Pinar del Río in the country’s far west to eastern Las Tunas province.

In all, two-thirds of the country, including Havana, remained without power, according to national electric company UNE, which said it was working to restore services.

In Havana, the blackout briefly covered Cuban state TV. Its afternoon national newscast began more than half an hour after its scheduled broadcast time, with one anchor explaining that the delay was due to a blackout.

Cuba’s electricity generation system has deteriorated over the years. Power outages of up to 20 hours a day are the norm in parts of the impoverished island that lack the fuel needed to generate electricity.

The power crisis has become more acute since the US abduction of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, Cuba’s top ally, in January.

Venezuela supplied half of Cuba’s fuel, but Washington cut off that supply after abducting Maduro and imposing an oil embargo on Havana, which it has eased somewhat amid warnings from other Caribbean countries that it could cause economic collapse in the country.

Energy shortages have forced the Cuban government to ration essential services, including waste collection and public transportation.

Trump’s ‘Friendly Takeover’ of Cuba

In another sign of intense US pressure, Ecuador declared Cuban Ambassador Basilio Gutierrez and his diplomatic staff “persona non grata,” Ecuador’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said Wednesday, giving them 48 hours to leave the country.

Officials did not explain why the government of Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa took the decision, but cited Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which allows a diplomatic mission to declare a person – inadmissible or inadmissible – at any time in the receiving country.

President Noboa is a close ally of US President Donald Trump, who recently hinted that the US might undertake a “friendly takeover” of Cuba.

Ecuador did not say whether the action against the Cuban embassy marked a formal break in diplomatic ties with Havana.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla lashed out in a post on social media, saying he “rejects in the strongest terms the arbitrary and unjustified decision of the Ecuadorian government to expel all staff from that country’s Cuban embassy.”

“It does not seem a coincidence that this decision was taken in a context characterized by the intensity of the US aggression against Cuba and strong pressures from that country’s government on third states to join that policy,” he said at Forum X.

“Cuba is convinced that the Ecuadorian people know how to protect the bonds of solidarity and brotherhood,” he said.