A young Cuban identified as Thaly Holguín showed the contents of her refrigerator on TikTok last Friday while living in Cuba, in a video that starkly summarizes the food and energy crisis facing the island.
The refrigerator, which belongs to the rental where she is staying and not to her, contains burnt potatoes that she still plans to eat, yesterday's rice to reheat, a can of spoiled mashed potatoes due to mold, a packet of mayonnaise, a bit of soda, and, in the freezer, only a jar of water that has not yet turned into ice.
"In the freezer, which is where the really good stuff is... look what I have... yes, my love, a jar of water," said the young woman with a bitter sense of humor, highlighting a reality that millions of Cubans face every day.
This is not the first time Holguín has documented this situation. In October 2025, he published a similar video, showing an equally empty refrigerator, which demonstrates that this precariousness is not an isolated episode but rather a constant in his daily life on the island.
The contrast with other Cubans is striking. The Cuban does not have an almost empty refrigerator when they belong to the elite or to circles close to power, a disparity that the population is increasingly denouncing on social media.
The food situation in Cuba is critical. According to recent data, 97% of the population lacks access to basic food, a figure that reflects the collapse of the distribution system and the government's inability to ensure minimum supplies.
In light of the worsening crisis, Díaz-Canel announced the so-called Zero Option, an emergency plan that, according to its critics, does not solve the problem but rather institutionalizes it. The program guarantees just seven pounds of rice per person per month, an amount insufficient to meet the basic nutritional needs of the population.
The food shortage is compounded by the energy crisis. The electricity deficit reached 1,885 megawatts in April 2026, leading to power outages of up to 20 hours a day in some provinces and making it impossible to preserve the few available food items, further worsening the situation for families like that of Thaly Holguín.
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