Dream turns in a nightmare

BLACKOUTS: TOURISTS FEEL THE PINCH AS CUBA'S CRIPPLED POWER GRID CONSTANTLY FAILS

- Agence France-Presse

Roberto Jimenez was hoping for a dream vacation in Cuba, but instead found himself among the tourists whose visits turned into a nightmare due to an island-wide blackout. "We came on holiday to enjoy ourselves, to get to know Cuba," the 46-year-old Mexican businessman said.

"Things went badly for us," he told AFP as he walked through Havana with his friend Rodrigo Ramirez and their partners.

Jimenez, on his first visit to the tourism-dependent island, said a hotel in northeastern Cuba where the group stayed before going to the capital was repeatedly hit by power cuts, making even charging cellphones a struggle.

On Sunday night, when the Communist-run country was reeling from a more than 48-hour blackout, the friends tried to leave their Havana hotel - fortunately equipped with an electric generator - to enjoy a stroll around the city, but soon gave up.