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A resident of the Armando Mestre neighborhood in the city of Matanzas requested a proof of address in her son's name on April 1st, but to this day she has not received it because authorities justify that "supposedly" there is no electricity.
Is it like this all day? Then they should either close down or move to another circuit where there is electricity. What cannot happen is that the community suffers,” stated **** in a letter sent to the section Apartado 1433 of the official newspaper Girón.
According to the text, the procedure was contracted at Collective Law Firm No. 2 in Matanzas, but the entity responsible for issuing the document, the Immigration and Foreign Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior (Minint), has been unable to complete it due to the ongoing lack of electricity.
It is “a simple certificate of address, a document for use within the national territory, which does not require any extraordinary legalization,” the sender noted.
The Provincial Director of Collective Law Firms confirmed that the request was submitted correctly and delivered to the competent authority. However, everything remains "pending" for the same reason: blackouts.
The electrical instability in the area not only hinders essential services but also directly affects the daily lives of residents like Hernán Costa Rodríguez, also from the Armando Mestre neighborhood. He criticized that the power cuts occur in five-minute cycles, causing stress, equipment failures, and more questions than answers.
"When the power comes on, it goes out after five minutes, and then it comes back after another five... and this happens up to five times. Afterwards, it stabilizes for the rest of the couple of hours of light that we enjoy," warned Costa, as quoted by the section itself, Apartado 1433.
Attempts to contact the Provincial Electric Company and the Government via email have "hit an impenetrable wall," stated the affected individual, but so far, "I have only received silence."
In addition to supporting Costa's testimony, Girón warned “those with deaf ears that silence, besides being dangerous, because it violates the established laws in this country, is the greatest offense that can be inflicted on the citizen who reports.”
Offices for procedures such as the Civil Registry are experiencing a systemic crisis that spans several Cuban provinces, reflecting institutional deterioration and operational instability that directly affects thousands of citizens.
In Cienfuegos, frequent blackouts have forced the Civil Registry to rewrite documents by hand, which, combined with the pre-legalization procedures, creates delays in obtaining certifications.
This directly impacts the large number of people who daily come to request the necessary documents for emigration or to process Spanish citizenship, amid increasing migratory pressure in Cuba.
A similar situation is occurring in the province of Las Tunas, as acknowledged by the official Periódico 26, which reported disruptions in the functioning of the local Civil Registry due to power outages and connectivity issues.
In Santiago de Cuba, the system has practically collapsed, limiting its services to only five appointments per day and forcing those seeking certifications to queue from dawn or pay informal services to secure a spot.
A similar reality exists in Matanzas itself, where appointments at the Civil Registry have been sold for 700 Cuban pesos, evidence of a bureaucracy that is as overwhelmed as it is susceptible to corrupt practices.
The Electric Company of Matanzas recently announced a new electricity supply rotation in the province, establishing a schedule of three hours of service for every six hours without electricity.
This schedule means that, in a province with a population of over 670,000 inhabitants, families will have access to only six hours of electricity for every 24-hour cycle.
The impacts hit particularly hard on the most vulnerable sectors, such as the elderly, children, or individuals with chronic illnesses.
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