Energy crisis in Cuba: Total incompetence or contempt for the Cuban people?

In recent months, Cuba has experienced one of the most devastating energy crises in its recent history. Massive blackouts have plunged millions of Cubans into darkness, leaving the population in complete uncertainty. And the crisis is not just energy-related: in Cuba, there is also a lack of fuel, food, water, and essential medications. But when the light fails, everything else is viewed in a different light, a dark and gloomy perspective.

The situation is not new, but the regime's response has been the same as always: silence, incompetence, and repression. Given this reality, the inevitable question is: Is the Cuban Government simply inept or does it truly despise its people?

For decades, the Cuban government has shown an absolute inability to manage even basic services. The island's electrical infrastructure is in ruins, the result of years of disinvestment, negligence, and corruption. Whenever there is a widespread blackout, the excuses are the same: technical failures, unexpected maintenance, or, of course, the U.S. embargo. But the truth is different: the regime has done nothing to modernize its energy system, and what used to be an intermittent crisis has become the norm.

While the thermoelectric plants collapse due to lack of maintenance and modernization, the regime continues to invest in the construction of new hotels that remain empty. Instead of directing scarce resources toward electricity generation for the people, they prioritize tourism, which barely generates income due to the economic crisis and lack of visitors. This obsession with building more tourist infrastructures while the population endures blackouts demonstrates that the government's priority has never been the well-being of the people.

It is more important for the government to maintain control than to solve the problems they have created.

Cubans are without electricity, but hotels catering to tourists remain lit. Hospitals are left without power, yet police patrols continue to operate to suppress any attempts at protest. There is no fuel to ensure a stable electricity supply, but there is enough to mobilize riot control troops. How can this be explained if not by an absolute disdain for ordinary people?

If incompetence were the only explanation, we would at least expect some attempt at a solution. But what we have witnessed is the opposite: every time the people suffer, the regime responds with repression and cynicism. In the midst of the blackout, instead of informing transparently and seeking alternatives to mitigate the crisis, they deployed troops in the streets to quell any attempts at protest. This was not an effort to ensure safety, but a strategy to instill fear. For them, maintaining control is more important than solving the problems they have created.

If they truly cared about the people, they would have taken concrete measures years ago to prevent Cuba from reaching this point of total collapse.

The reality is that the government of Díaz-Canel and its leadership are not only incapable of solving Cuba's problems, but they are also not interested in doing so. They do not seek the well-being of the people; they only seek their submission. If they truly cared about the people, they would have taken concrete measures years ago to prevent Cuba from reaching this point of total collapse.

The only way out of this crisis is not to wait for the government to correct itself, because it will not. It's not about trusting in cosmetic reforms, as they will solve nothing. The only real way out is for the Cuban people to stop accepting a life of misery and fear. If this crisis has made anything clear, it is that Cubans cannot expect anything from a government that only sees them as an obstacle to maintaining power.

Cuba is not a poor country; it is a country impoverished by its own leaders. It is a nation with a hardworking, capable, and resilient population, but ruled by an elite that looks down on it. This is no longer just a matter of incompetence; it is an absolute disdain for the lives of Cubans. The people of Cuba deserve more, but they will not achieve it as long as they remain under the yoke of a government that hates them and punishes them for the mere fact of existing.