Cuba on the brink as nationwide energy crisis leaves island paralyzed

Havana Suburb Faces Severe Crisis as Essential Services Collapse

HAVANA – Residents in the Havana suburb of Arroyo Naranjo are struggling to survive a severe collapse of basic services, as daily blackouts now frequently exceed 16 hours. The prolonged power outages have disabled irrigation system pumps, triggering widespread water shortages across the region.

The infrastructure failure has forced many families to cook over homemade charcoal stoves because liquid gas supplies have been unavailable for over a month. Without functional refrigeration, household food stocks are rotting quickly.

Javier, 27, and his father, Elías, 64, said the crisis has left them facing hunger, thirst, and chronic sleep deprivation. The pair described a grim reality of enduring sweltering heat and the stench of uncollected garbage piling up in the streets.

Public infrastructure has also ground to a halt. A bus scheduled to transport military reservists, including Javier and Elías, to a recent training exercise never arrived. The incident highlights a growing paralysis that is now affecting even the most essential state-run services.

The narrative emerging from Arroyo Naranjo serves as more than a mere anecdotal account; it represents a micro-level indictment of the systemic collapse currently paralyzing Cuba. The simultaneous breakdown of essential services—ranging from power and water to gas and sanitation—signals a state apparatus that has lost its fundamental capacity to function.

For observers in Vietnam, particularly the generation that endured the pre-1986 subsidy era, these conditions evoke a visceral sense of déjà vu. The paralysis of a stagnant, centrally planned economy is a familiar historical ghost. However, the modern trajectories of the two nations provide a stark study in contrast. While Hanoi pivoted toward its landmark "Doi Moi" reforms in 1986—embracing market liberalization and global economic integration—Havana has remained tethered to a rigid command-economy model.

Cuba’s current exhaustion is the cumulative result of decades of fiscal mismanagement, compounded by international sanctions and a persistent failure to implement meaningful structural reforms. Perhaps the most telling indicator of this decline is the failure of military logistics. When the state can no longer provide transport for its own reserve forces, it suggests that the rot in the national infrastructure has reached the regime's most vital pillars, eroding the very institutions intended to ensure its stability.

The humanitarian crisis in Cuba strikes a deeply personal chord within the Vietnamese-American community, particularly for the first generation. Images of food lines and systemic scarcity are a haunting echo of the pre-Đổi Mới "bao cấp" era—the bleak subsidy period that defined post-war Vietnam. For many, from the elders in Little Saigon to those working in the nail salon industry or running phở restaurants, these scenes reinforce the original drive to seek freedom and opportunity in the U.S. Whether families arrived decades ago or more recently through F2B, H-1B, or EB-5 channels, Cuba’s current state serves as a stark reminder of the stagnant path Vietnam narrowly escaped, further underscoring the vital role of the remittances and support they send back to their homeland today.