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While the National Defense Council, led by Miguel Díaz-Canel, increases televised meetings and triumphant reports about the "electrical recovery" following Hurricane Melissa, millions of Cubans in the eastern part of the country remain in the dark, without water, without communication, and without any certainty of when "normalcy" will return.
In their latest videoconference with the provinces, the high-ranking officials clad in olive green repeated the usual formula of the regime: incomplete figures, inflated percentages, and statements that attempt to mask the actual collapse of the National Electric System (SEN).
According to the report released by the Palacio, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, stated that the restoration of electricity in Las Tunas is at 94.5%, in Holguín at 40.5%, and in Guantánamo at 58.7%.
However, the provincial electric companies themselves acknowledge that most of those "percentages" correspond to isolated generation islands disconnected from the national grid, rather than a comprehensive restoration of service.
In Granma, where the solar park in Río Cauto was completely destroyed by flooding, barely half of the customers have electricity. Authorities are improvising provisional structures of 110 kilovolts to replace fallen towers, while thousands of homes remain disconnected from the national grid.
In Santiago de Cuba, the UNE is talking about "ready" circuits, but the Renté thermal power plant remains out of service, preventing real connection.
According to recent demographic estimates, the provinces of Las Tunas, Holguín, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantánamo are home to nearly four million inhabitants, almost a third of the country's population.
These are precisely the regions that remain most affected by the collapse of the national electrical system. In these areas, millions of Cubans have been surviving for more than a week without electricity, without water, and with a crumbling infrastructure, while the regime tries to maintain a narrative of normalcy through percentages and figures lacking verifiable technical support.
The official discourse aims to project efficiency, but the facts tell a different story. Since October 28, eastern Cuba has been practically in collapse, with severe impacts on transmission lines, substations, transformers, and distribution equipment.
According to figures from UNE itself, 339 transformers are damaged between Las Tunas and Guantánamo, and the repairs depend on materials that the country does not possess or that arrive slowly from abroad.
Meanwhile, with a significant portion of the National Electroenergetic System (SEN) disconnected, the national generation deficit exceeds 1,100 megawatts, and power outages are also affecting the central and western regions of the country.
The thermoelectric plants Máximo Gómez (Mariel), Felton (Holguín), and Diez de Octubre (Camagüey) are operating at minimal capacity, and over 500 MW of distributed generation remain out of service due to a lack of fuel.
Despite the magnitude of the crisis, the regime's narrative focuses on "unity" and the efforts of the Provincial Defense Councils, which are presented as an example of socialist effectiveness.
In that regard, Díaz-Canel emphasized that "there is strong work being done on recovery" and showcased national and international donations as a symbol of solidarity, without mentioning that the population has been surviving for over a week without electricity, cooking with firewood, losing food, and facing the uncertainty of when they will return to the former "normalcy."
The contrast between the official discourse and the reality faced by Cubans is stark. On social media, residents of Granma, Holguín, and Santiago are reporting that they continue to lack electricity and water, that the electric wells are not functioning, and that hospitals are operating with outdated generators. Many are questioning the percentages presented by Minister De la O Levy, which they call "comforting figures."
The current energy crisis confirms what Cubans have been suffering for years: an electrical system collapsed due to lack of maintenance, corruption, and chronic fuel shortages.
Hurricane Melissa merely revealed what was already evident: the fragility of a model that is unable to sustain even the basic infrastructure of a country that is fading away, while its government dances with numbers in front of the cameras to feign control.
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