Blackout in Cuba: what comes next?
A nationwide power outage on Monday cut off electricity to Cuba's approximately 10 million residents. The socialist-ruled country suffers from frequent blackouts and is in the throes of a severe energy crisis. The US has imposed an oil embargo on the island, and US President Donald Trump has said he expects to have "the honour of taking Cuba". Commentators debate causes and consequences.
No sign of a strategy again
Once again, as with the operations in Venezuela and Iran, it is unclear what concrete goal is being pursued, the Frankfurter Rundschau criticises:
“Trump's demand for the resignation of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel may give the narcissist in the White House the satisfaction of being able to remove yet another leader from power. But this neither helps the Cuban people nor answers the question of what comes next for the island nation. ... Should the communist country be transformed into a democracy? Should it be rebuilt? And if so, with which political forces are these goals to be achieved? ... The simple minds in the Trump administration don't even seem to be bothering with these questions.”
Trump hoping to shine as the conquerer
El Periódico de Catalunya looks at the motives behind Trump's actions:
“Change has been needed for many years; that much is obvious. ... President Miguel Díaz-Canel's proposal to facilitate investment by the US-based Cuban community comes late, at a time when the island is at its weakest and the US has a president that is determined to regain power and influence in Latin America by any means necessary. ... Trump probably believes that with the conquest of Cuba he can reap the benefits that the uncertain war with Iran has failed to deliver. ... The exhaustion of the Cuban people and the regime's international isolation provide ideal conditions for confusing the US's traditional interventionist policy with their liberation.”
Up to security forces to bring down the government
The Cuban people alone won't be able to bring down the government, Ilta-Sanomat stresses:
“The power cut, with all its unpleasant consequences, was concrete and, at the same time, symbolic proof that Cuba's socialist one-party system is incapable of meeting the basic needs of the population. ... The White House hopes that Cubans, weary of their misery, will take to the streets and overthrow their government of their own accord. That is a possibility. On Friday an angry mob set fire to the Communist Party office in the town of Morón, and further protests could follow. But harsh counter-measures are also to be expected. The revolution will only die if the armed forces, the security forces and the police withdraw their support for it.”
In the dark thanks to socialism
Cuba itself is to blame for the blackout, argues Diário de Notícias:
“The US embargo is nothing more than a statistical blip in an equation of systemic collapse. If the Cuban regime had money, it would buy oil on any market. ... Cuba's problem is not that it lacks a permit to buy, but that it has nothing with which to pay, because its economic system is a machine for destroying wealth. ... Unfortunately for the millions of people living there, the only thing socialism in Cuba has distributed equally is darkness.”