Díaz-Canel to the children of Banes: "They are enduring severe power outages."

The Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel asked the children of Banes, in Holguín, if they were enduring severe power outages during the tour he is conducting in the eastern part of the island.

Upon arriving at that Holguin town, the leader approached a group of children and Cubans gathered to receive him, and to break the ice, he went straight to the issue that is causing the most discomfort among the population on the island.

"Greetings, how are you doing?" he asked, to which those present answered, "good."

Good, but enduring harsh power outages. We will continue to improve, we will overcome that situation. We are visiting this municipality as part of the monthly visits to the province to analyze issues of business operation and local development," he indicated.

"We want to start seeing what works well in the midst of such complex situations" –attributed to the U.S. embargo and not to governmental inefficiency–, "seeing what doesn't work, and see if what works inspires those that don't work," expressed Diaz-Canel, who two days prior visited the town of Palenque de Yateras, in Guantánamo, with a similar rhetoric.

The leader's speech has outraged dozens of Cubans. Activist Lucio Enriquez criticized that the ruler, more surrounded by security guards than by the people, is supported by "sheep" who "laugh while he mocks the blackouts!"

The day before, the official visited the municipality of San Luis in Santiago de Cuba, and shared one of his strategic reflections with the residents of the area about the importance of "planting more" to address the food shortages they currently face.

After promising new solutions to problems that finally are never solved, he acknowledged last Wednesday that his promise to eliminate blackouts during the summer months is not feasible in "the current conditions of the country."

"There are no guarantees that the summer months will pass without disruptions in the electrical service," he explained.

In the midst of the crisis, families complain that children cannot rest due to power outages of up to 20 hours a day, and many have seen a drop in their academic performance.