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Crisis en Cuba: se desató un gran incendio en una refinería en La Habana
Un incendio de gran magnitud en la refinería Ñico López de La Habana obligó este viernes a desplegar a los equipos de emergencia, mientras una densa columna de humo negro era visible desde distintos puntos de la capital cubana. Las autoridades del Ministerio de Energía y Minas (MINEM) informaron que el fuego, iniciado a media tarde en un almacén de la instalación, fue controlado poco después, aunque no se precisaron las causas ni se reportaron heridos o fallecidos.
La refinería Ñico López, una de las tres existentes en Cuba, se encuentra ubicada en un área cercana a zonas densamente pobladas y ha sido objeto de advertencias por sus problemas técnicos acumulados y el impacto ambiental sobre la bahía de La Habana. Esta infraestructura, nacionalizada en 1960, procesa tanto crudo nacional como importado, pero enfrenta limitaciones operativas, agravadas por la crisis energética que atraviesa la isla desde mediados de 2024.
El siniestro ocurre en un contexto especialmente delicado para la economía cubana. Desde enero, el gobierno de Estados Unidos intensificó las restricciones energéticas, cortando los envíos de petróleo venezolano y amenazando con aranceles a otros países que suministren combustible a la isla. A esto se suma la escasez de divisas, que ha impedido la importación adecuada de carburantes, y la ausencia de llegadas de buques petroleros internacionales en las últimas semanas, según expertos en transporte marítimo.
La agudización de la crisis ha forzado la aplicación de medidas de emergencia, entre ellas la reducción de horarios en escuelas y universidades, el recorte de jornadas laborales, la disminución del transporte público y la limitación de las ventas de combustible. Los hospitales también han visto restringido su personal debido a la falta de recursos.
El incidente remite al precedente del incendio de la base de supertanqueros de Matanzas en agosto de 2022, considerado el mayor desastre industrial reciente en el país y que dejó diecisiete muertos y la destrucción de cuatro tanques con capacidad de 50.000 metros cúbicos cada uno. Aunque el incendio de este viernes no alcanzó igual magnitud, la situación refuerza la preocupación sobre la vulnerabilidad de las instalaciones energéticas cubanas.
La Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (UNE), empresa estatal adscrita al Ministerio de Energía y Minas, anticipó para este viernes apagones simultáneos en toda la isla, con una afectación máxima estimada del 57 % de la población en el horario de mayor demanda durante la tarde y la noche. El organismo prevé una capacidad de generación de 1.361 megavatios (MW) frente a una demanda máxima de 3.100 MW, lo que representa un déficit de 1.739 MW. Para evitar interrupciones desordenadas, se desconectarán de manera programada hasta 1.769 MW.
La crisis energética se ha agravado desde mediados de 2024, en parte por el asedio petrolero de Estados Unidos que, según el Gobierno cubano, ha incrementado la frecuencia de los cortes en todo el país. Además, el deterioro de las centrales térmicas—con décadas de explotación—y la escasez de divisas para importar combustible han profundizado la emergencia.
En la actualidad, siete de las 16 unidades termoeléctricas operativas permanecen fuera de servicio por averías o labores de mantenimiento, incluyendo dos de las tres más grandes del sistema. La generación termoeléctrica aporta en promedio el 40 % de la matriz energética nacional, lo que acentúa la vulnerabilidad del sistema ante la indisponibilidad de estas instalaciones.
Expertos independientes atribuyen la situación a una infrafinanciación crónica del sector eléctrico, que permanece bajo control total del Estado desde 1959. Estimaciones no oficiales calculan que se requerirían entre 8.000 y 10.000 millones de dólares para rehabilitar la infraestructura y restablecer la estabilidad del servicio.
Por su parte, el Gobierno cubano mantiene que las sanciones de Estados Unidos constituyen el principal obstáculo para el acceso a recursos y tecnología, denunciando una política de “asfixia energética” por parte de Washington.
Los prolongados cortes de electricidad impactan de forma directa en la economía nacional, que ha experimentado una contracción superior al 15 % desde 2020, de acuerdo con cifras oficiales, y han sido el detonante de las protestas sociales más significativas de los últimos años en la isla.
(Con información de EFE y AFP)
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Cal State prof warns scrapping SAT in name of ‘inclusivity’ is leaving students unprepared
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A California economics professor is sounding the alarm on the «deficits in learning» she is seeing in the classroom, arguing that the decision to scrap standardized testing in the name of «inclusivity» is actually a disservice to the students it claims to help.
Cal State Long Beach professor Andrea Mays told Fox News Digital that the current cohort of college students, many of whom spent their formative middle school years in online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, are arriving on campus unprepared for basic coursework.
Mays spoke to Fox News Digital about the state’s university system’s decision to scrap the SAT as a requirement for college admission as playing a large role in that and that it has led to students coming to college unprepared and dropping out at higher rates.
Mays says the drop rate is up «phenomenally» and that chairs of other departments tell her it’s widespread, with 25% of students dropping classes, with math being a key area where students are coming in underprepared.
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A teacher at Cal State Long Beach is warning of the ramifications of the state system removing the SAT requirement. (Canart7/iStock)
«I teach a class that is offered for non-economics majors,» Mays explained. «I could put on an index card exactly what math is required for my class, it’s not calculus, and they are struggling with it, they’re embarrassed, they’re demoralized, they come into my classroom, and they say, or into my office hours, and they say, I never learned this stuff, I don’t know how to calculate a percentage change.»
«I can show them, but those are the students who are actually coming to me and asking me for help. There are lots of other students who are just too embarrassed even to do that, and who just end up dropping the class.»
Mays, who recently penned an opinion piece in the Orange County Register with the headline «Bring back the SAT at CSU — or admit we are failing our own students,» says that the explanation she has gotten for the CSU system dropping the SAT is that «we want to be inclusive.»
«I am definitely for inclusivity on our campus,» Mays said. «We have a very diverse campus here. But I think it’s fraud to tell people that what we’re doing is so that we can be inclusive when really what we’re doing is we’re allowing people to enter that we know are really going to have a difficult time of it. They have no idea.»
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Graduates take part in the commencement ceremony for the College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics, California State University of Long Beach at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Monday, May 15, 2023. (Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images)
In recent years, several activist groups have railed against the SAT and standardized testing in general, including the nation’s largest teachers union, and Fox News Digital asked Mays if that narrative is behind the CSU decision not to require the SAT.
«That might be a little bit of the implication there without saying so, I’m not an expert in the recent changes in the SAT, others have done that work looking at whether you can change questions so that groups that don’t do well on certain questions, can do better on other types of questions,» Mays said.
«There’s definitely room for discussion about what kind of a standard, is it the ACT? Is it the SAT or something? The problem is that high schools are heterogeneous,» Mays said.
«Not all high schools are excellent even if they say they are. And so you’ll get students who get As in algebra two, and then they come into my class and they can’t calculate a percentage change. They can’t find the intersection between two straight lines, both of which are seventh and eighth grade math requirements. So that students are getting passed on from high school into a four-year university is a disservice to them. They get here thinking they’re wonderful and finding out that they are at the bottom of the ability distribution for math and English.»
Acting Chancellor Steve Relyea stated in 2022 that when the decision to remove the SAT and ACT was made, the goal was to «level the playing field» and provide «greater access.» The decision followed a year-long study by the Admission Advisory Council, which found that the tests provided «negligible additional value» in predicting student success compared to high school GPA.
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The system officially moved to «multi-factored admission criteria,» focusing on GPA in specific high school courses, extracurriculars, and socio-economic factors.
«Access without readiness is not opportunity,» Mays wrote in her article. «It is a disservice. If CSU is serious about student success, affordability, and equity, it must be willing to measure preparedness — and act on what it finds.»
Mays added, «Pretending preparation gaps do not exist is not equity.»
Mays told Fox News Digital that California’s robust and effective community college system is a tool ready to be utilized as an «alternative» for students who are coming out of high school, many who lost years of learning during COVID, and not prepared for college.
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«Go into the community system and take the lowest level English class you can so that you can write a sentence, you can write a paragraph, you could make an argument,» Mays said. «Take a basic math class that will transfer onto a four-year university and learn how to do the basic math that perhaps you didn’t learn when you were in middle school online.»
The California State University System did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
«There’s no reason not to use an SAT as a filter to let students know whether they’re prepared for college-level work or not,» Mays told Fox News Digital.
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U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Saturday that it had carried out ten strikes against over 30 ISIS targets in Syria, in recent days as part of a joint military effort to «sustain relentless military pressure on remnants from the terrorist network.»
CENTCOM said, from Feb. 3 – 12, its forces «struck ISIS infrastructure and weapons storage targets with precision munitions delivered by fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and unmanned aircraft.»
US MILITARY IN SYRIA CARRIES OUT 5 STRIKES AGAINST ‘MULTIPLE ISIS TARGETS’
Recently, CENTCOM forces conducted five strikes against an ISIS communication site, critical logistics node, and weapons storage facilities in Syria between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2.
Operation Hawkeye Strike targets over 30 ISIS sites following a December ambush that killed US troops. (CENTCOM)
«Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,» Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of CENTCOM, said in a statement at the time.
«Operating in coordination with coalition and partner forces to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS makes America, the region and the world safer,» he added.
AFTER TRUMP DECLARED ISIS DEFEATED, US FACES NEW TEST AS DETAINEES MOVE AMID SYRIA POWER SHIFT
On Jan. 27, President Trump told reporters he had a «great conversation with the highly respected» President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
More than 50 ISIS terrorists have been killed or captured and over 100 ISIS infrastructure targets have been struck. (CENTCOM)
«All of the things having to do with Syria in that area are working out very, very well,» said President Trump. «So we are very happy about it.»
The Operation Hawkeye Strike mission was launched in response to an ISIS «ambush» attack that left two U.S. service members and an American interpreter dead on Dec. 13, 2025, in Palmyra, Syria.
AFTER TRUMP DECLARED ISIS DEFEATED, US FACES NEW TEST AS DETAINEES MOVE AMID SYRIA POWER SHIFT
«More than 50 ISIS terrorists have been killed or captured and over 100 ISIS infrastructure targets have been struck with hundreds of precision munitions during two months of targeted operations,» states CENTCOM.
The Operation Hawkeye Strike mission was launched in response to an ISIS «ambush» attack that left two U.S. service members and an American interpreter dead. (CENTCOM)
On Thursday, CENTCOM announced it has completed its withdrawal of American forces from al-Tanf Garrison in Syria pointing to a broader shift in U.S. posture in the region.
CHAOS IN SYRIA SPARKS FEARS OF ISIS PRISON BREAKS AS US RUSHES DETAINEES TO IRAQ
«Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,» said Adm. Brad Cooper. (CENTCOM)
Operation Inherent Resolve was launched in 2014 to combat ISIS with American troops maintaining a limited presence to support partner forces and prevent ISIS from returning after it was territorially defeated in 2019.
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Fox News Digital’s Ashley Carnahan and Greg Norman-Diamond contributed to this report.
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