Widespread Blackout Hits Cuba, Ecuador Expels Havanas Ambassador and Staff

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Cuba’s Ambassador to Ecuador Basilio Gutierrez and his diplomatic staff have been given 48 hours to leave Quito, Ecuador. A power outage has affected most of Cuba, including Havana, according to the state electric utility.

The blackout was caused by a fault at the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, located approximately 100km east of Havana. The outage resulted in two-thirds of the country being left without power, with the national electric company UNE working to restore services.

In Havana, the power outage briefly took Cuban state TV off the air, causing a delay in its afternoon national news broadcast. Cuba’s electricity generation system has been experiencing issues for years, resulting in daily power outages of up to 20 hours in some areas.

The country’s fuel scarcity has worsened since the US abducted Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro in January. The US had cut off most of Cuba’s fuel supply after abducting Maduro and imposing an oil embargo on Havana. Ecuador declared Cuban Ambassador Basilio Gutierrez and his diplomatic staff “persona non grata” on Wednesday, giving them 48 hours to leave the country.

Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs cited Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations as the reason for the decision. The US President Donald Trump has recently suggested that the US could carry out a “friendly takeover” of Cuba. Ecuador did not address whether the move against the Cuban embassy implied a formal break in diplomatic relations with Havana.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla responded to the decision on social media, stating that he rejected the expulsion as “arbitrary and unjustified”. He also mentioned that the US’s actions may have contributed to the Ecuadorian government’s decision.

Source: Al Jazeera