Chavez & Cuba

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>Cuba announces boost in power supply, end to blackouts
>BY CARLOS BATISTA
>Agence France-Presse
>
>HAVANA -- After decades of long, scheduled blackouts caused by electricity
>shortages, Cubans woke up to the news Tuesday from officials who announced
>the lights -- and the refrigerator and TV -- were on to stay.
>
>``Today, the island's [power] generating capacity is above national demand,
>aided by the modernization of our power plants and the country's energy
>conservation program'' Radio Rebelde said.
>
>`WHITE-ONS'
>Cubans grew so used to regularly scheduled power outages that during the
>toughest years, in 1993 and 1994, they called their sporadic moments of
>electrical supply ``white-ons.''
>
>While progress since then appears to have been made, top officials remain
>cautious about the power supply. The modernization ``does not mean that
>power cuts might not take place in some areas, Cuban towns and even
>provinces due to technical difficulties and other unexpected developments''
>the radio said, quoting Roberto González, top electricity expert at the
>Ministry of Basic Industries.
>
>President Fidel Castro on Monday signed a cooperation deal with Venezuela
>that should end Cuba's chronic energy woes.
>
>The government of President Hugo Chávez agreed to provide the island with up
>to 53,000 barrels per day of crude oil and derivatives financed by long-term
>credits.
>
>The 15 million tons of oil Havana imported annually from the former Soviet
>Union was slashed to less than half, and the country's power plants were not
>equipped to burn the high-sulfur heavy crude that Cuba produces
>domestically.
>
>LOCAL CRUDE
>Thanks to greater investment in oil exploration in Cuba -- with French
>financing -- the government has raised its heavy crude production, while
>also adapting its power plants to burn domestic crude.
>
>This year, 70 percent of the oil needed for power generation will be local
>crude, according to government estimates.
>
>The country's attention to reducing energy consumption could also contribute
>to fewer blackouts, analysts said. The national electrical savings program,
>which maintains a staggered consumption schedule for residential and
>commercial users, is complemented by a substitution of low-energy household
>products, including light bulbs and appliances.