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Cuba Starts Daylight Saving Between March 7–8, 2009

Cuba will turn the clocks one hour forward when it starts observing daylight saving at midnight between Saturday, March 7, and Sunday, March 8, in 2009.

Sunrise in Havana

Cuba Starts DST March 7–8, 2009

©iStockphoto.com/Xavier Gallego

Daylight saving time is used in Cuba to save energy and to make better use of sunlight, according to Cuba’s Electric Union (cited in Radio Reloj).

Cuba is five hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), or UTC -5 hours during the non-daylight saving period. It will be on UTC -4 hours when it starts daylight saving time.

Energy Saving Measure

Cuba’s government hopes that the decision to adopt daylight saving time in the country would reduce use of artificial lighting, thus reducing electricity consumption. The extra hour of natural sunlight will save energy during peak hours, particularly when artificial light is used for cooking during meal times in homes.

Cuba’s Electric Union states that everything is done to achieve a more rational use of energy and believes that daylight saving time will benefit the country’s citizens.

History

Daylight saving time was first introduced in Cuba in 1928 but it was not widely accepted until World War II. After the war, daylight saving time was no longer observed until 1965. In 2004 Cuba remained on daylight saving time until October 29, 2006. Cuba was in a perpetual state of daylight saving time during that period. After two years operating all year-round without changing from “summer” to "normal" time, Cuba decided to re-establish standard time on October 29, 2006.

Cuba again observed daylight saving time in 2007 and 2008. It was announced on March 4, 2009, that Cuba would observe daylight saving time again in 2009, starting at midnight between March 7 and March 8. timeanddate.com will provide more information on the length of the 2009 daylight saving schedule as it comes on hand. Daylight saving time ended on the last Sunday of October from 2006 to 2008.

Regardless of Cuba’s daylight saving plans in the future, the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base observes daylight saving time in synchronization with its Florida headquarters in the United States.

Dates of Daylight Saving Time 1980–2009

These are the dates Daylight Saving Time started and ended in Havana.


YearStart dateEnd dateDaylight duration
1970Apr 26Oct 2526 weeks
1971Apr 25Oct 3127 weeks
1972Apr 30Oct 823 weeks
1973Apr 29Oct 823 weeks and 1 day
1974Apr 28Oct 823 weeks and 2 days
1975Apr 27Oct 2626 weeks
1976Apr 25Oct 3127 weeks
1977Apr 24Oct 3027 weeks
1978May 7Oct 822 weeks
1979Mar 18Oct 1430 weeks
1980Mar 16Oct 1230 weeks
1981May 10Oct 1122 weeks
1982May 9Oct 1022 weeks
1983May 8Oct 922 weeks
1984May 6Oct 1423 weeks
1985May 5Oct 1323 weeks
1986Mar 16Oct 1230 weeks
1987Mar 15Oct 1130 weeks
1988Mar 20Oct 929 weeks
1989Mar 19Oct 829 weeks
1990Apr 1Oct 1428 weeks
1991Apr 7Oct 1327 weeks
1992Apr 5Oct 1127 weeks
1993Apr 4Oct 1027 weeks
1994Apr 3Oct 927 weeks
1995Apr 2Oct 827 weeks
1996Apr 7Oct 626 weeks
1997Apr 6Oct 1227 weeks
1998Mar 29Oct 2530 weeks
1999Mar 28Oct 3131 weeks
2000Apr 2Oct 2930 weeks
2001Apr 1Oct 2830 weeks
2002Apr 7Oct 2729 weeks
2003Apr 6Oct 2629 weeks
2004–2006Sunday, March 28, 2004Sunday, October 29, 2006135 weeks
2007Mar 11Oct 2833 weeks
2008Mar 16Oct 2632 weeks
2009Mar 8Oct 2533 weeks
2010Mar 14Oct 3133 weeks
2011Mar 20Nov 1334 weeks
2012Apr 1Nov 431 weeks
2013Mar 10Nov 334 weeks
2014Mar 9Nov 234 weeks
2015Mar 8Nov 134 weeks