The increasingly prolonged blackouts in the Cuban capital leave the central G Street completely in the dark, while just a few blocks away, the impressive Iberostar Selection La Habana hotel, known locally as Torre K, remains illuminated, as shown in a video shared on social media.
The material published on X by the user Madara el cubano depicts a night scene where the streets and residential buildings of Vedado, including the student residence at 25 and G, are engulfed in darkness.
In the images, the lights from cars, motorcycles, and a moving bus are practically the only visible sources of illumination in the area.
The most striking contrast in the video is the presence, in the background, of the controversial skyscraper inaugurated in 2025, fully illuminated, amidst the widespread blackout in one of the most central areas of Havana, which years ago was a meeting place for numerous groups of people, primarily young people.
The scene has sparked numerous comments on social media, where users questioned that if this is what one of the hearts of Havana looks like, the situation in other neighborhoods and municipalities must be even more grim.
The video circulated as Cuba faces a new wave of widespread blackouts. According to the Electric Union, on Saturday, the service was affected for 24 hours, with a maximum impact of 1,969 MW, exceeding expectations. A similar situation was anticipated for the peak nighttime hours on Sunday.
In Havana, the Electric Company confirmed that on Saturday, the service was disrupted for 18 hours and 25 minutes.
The maximum impact was 448 MW at 6:45 PM, and it was not possible to restore the service due to a generation deficit. Additionally, 150 MW were affected by an emergency.
Authorities acknowledge that several thermoelectric units remain out of service due to breakdowns or maintenance, while the limitations in thermal generation continue to accumulate.
Although solar parks contribute energy to the system, their production is insufficient to compensate for the collapse of conventional generation.
The image of Vedado in darkness, with a hotel lit up in the midst of the blackout, has become a new postcard of the moment the country is experiencing.
For many Cubans, it's not just a power outage but a visible representation of a crisis model, where scarcity and sacrifice unfairly impact the population.
In the public debate, the comedian Ulises Toirac recently contributed a reflection that shifted the focus from the specific event to the structural problem: the power outage not as an anomaly, but as a normalized routine.
Without delving into figures or slogans, he emphasized the psychological weariness of living in darkness, the erosion of everyday life, and the discursive trap of presenting precariousness as resistance, an idea that resonates with the shared experience of many urban sectors in the country.
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