Cuba's blackout crisis hits home in KC
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Much of Cuba was left without electricity last week. Photo: Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images
Cuban community leaders in Kansas City are organizing support and prayer gatherings as widespread blackouts in Cuba leave relatives in the dark and send some scrambling for food and medicine.
Why it matters: For some of the roughly 2,000 Cuban residents in the KC metro, the island's fuel-driven power crisis is not a distant foreign policy issue. It is parents, aunts and friends without electricity for days at a time.
Driving the news: After U.S. forces attacked Venezuela in January, oil shipments from Cuba's main supplier stalled.
- The Trump administration has since threatened tariffs on countries that supply Cuba with fuel, further tightening the supply.
- With reserves strained and fragile power plants, much of the country was left without electricity last week.
What they're saying: Marisel Walston, a member of the Cubanos por KC group, arrived in KC decades ago. She left Cuba in 1979 and remembers blackouts that lasted days.
- "Your food goes bad. You can't sleep. We had to leave home to survive," she tells Axios.
- Today, she says, the structure has not changed. Friends in Cuba still struggle to find food, gas and transportation.
The owner of Cuban cafe Cortadito, Karell Martinez, came to KC in 2007 as a political refugee, having fled Cuba after his parents were jailed for operating independent home libraries. He also recalled blackouts.
- "We're scared for Cuba. Some of the people who firmly believed in the system are now asking us for help," Martinez tells Axios.
- "That tells you how bad it is. We just want to see the people of Cuba have a better future," he adds.
What they did: Martinez says watching from KC was not enough. He recently helped send about 130 pounds of medicine to Cuba after friends described shortages.
- When videos surfaced showing trash piling up and burning in the streets as fuel shortages stalled collection, he opened his cafe for a public prayer gathering.
- "Besides sending food and medicine, prayer is the strongest thing I can do from here," he says.
What's next: Martinez says he expects outages to continue as long as fuel remains scarce and power plants remain fragile.
- He is accepting donations of medicine and canned goods at his cafe, which he intends to send through approved courier services to families in Cuba.