Blenda Lopez, a Cuban content creator residing in Spain, published this Monday a video on TikTok recounting her first 48 hours in Cuba, and the narrative begins with a detail that sums everything up: as soon as she landed, the island was experiencing a nationwide blackout.
"I arrived and obviously there was a blackout, it was a nationwide blackout, so what a welcome, but I don't mind my love because my mom had made me an incredibly delicious meal," Blenda humorously and resignedly shared from the account @blendi.lopez, where the video gathered over 2,200 views in less than 24 hours.
During those first 48 hours on the island, the young woman and her family only had electricity for a total of three hours. The only time they had light was between 11 PM and 4 AM. "I took the opportunity to take a shower, record a YouTube video, my mom cooked, used the washing machine, boiled water," she explained. The water from the washing machine ended up spilling on the floor at four in the morning, forcing them to clean it up at that hour.
The survival routine described by Blenda is that of millions of Cubans today: charging devices before heading out, having breakfast with products brought from Europe — the so-called "pacotilla" — and moving through the streets with large bundles of cash in Cuban pesos. "If you are looking at my life closely, that amount of money is what you need to get by in Cuba on a daily basis," she said, showing the cash on camera, in a country where the euro is trading at 580 pesos on the informal market.
One of the most striking moments of the account is her reaction upon seeing the state of the streets in her neighborhood. "If you’re one of those who thinks that seeing something in a photo is the same as seeing it in person, no darling, let me show you my surprised face when I saw the streets of my neighborhood," she warned. The trash piled up on every corner led her to conclude: "The worst part of all this is that you encounter it on every corner, on every street, on every block. Of course, there must be thousands of infections, diseases, epidemics. This is the most inhumane and unsanitary thing that exists."
Blenda also documented her neighbors' protests. "The neighbors made their voices heard so that this time it wouldn't last as long. That's the people banging pots against the government because we've been without electricity for too many hours," she recounted, noting that the protest succeeded in restoring power for a few hours. Around the same time, pot-banging protests in front of the PCC Central Committee in Vedado also shook the capital.
The testimony arrives at the worst energy moment in Cuba's recent history. The National Electric System experienced total collapses on March 18 and 22, with a generation deficit exceeding 1,800 MW daily. The fall of the regime of Nicolás Maduro on January 3 cut off the Venezuelan supply of subsidized crude oil, which accounted for two-thirds of Cuba's energy imports, and the fire at the Nico López refinery on February 13 further exacerbated the situation.
Blenda is not the only one documenting this shock. Another Cuban influencer residing in Spain, Anita Mateu, described it in similar terms: "I live in Spain, and returning to Cuba is an incredible shock; every time I come back, my heart tightens because I see everything more destroyed, everything more dull, everything more lonely, everything more expensive."
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