“PARALYZED”
The blackout has had knock-on effects, too. Among other things, no electricity means many buildings cannot pump water.
In the Vedado neighbourhood, Isabel, 51, said her husband had just carried 20 buckets of water up to their second-floor apartment.
She said they were able to tolerate power outages that lasted a few hours, but the extended blackout was unacceptable.
“This is a lack of respect for people. I have no other way to describe what is happening,” said Isabel, who declined to give her last name.
“A country paralyzed for three days is too much,” she said.
Luis Jimenez, a 22-year-old university student, said he frets over the future – the next few days, and over the longer term.
“If this is not resolved soon I don’t know how we will live in the next few days,” he said.
“This is a country in ruins. It is destroyed,” said Jimenez.
