Related videos:
A Cuban mother identified as MakarlaEslohan Santos posted on Facebook a video that has gone viral as it starkly portrays the routine imposed by the electricity crisis: waking up at three in the morning when the power returns to cook, take care of the children, and prepare to go to work without having barely slept.
In the clip lasting just one minute and nine seconds, the woman demonstrates how she takes advantage of every minute once the power returns.
She gets up, starts making lunch, prepares food for the dogs and the children, washes her hair, and makes a coffee. At six in the morning, the electricity goes out again, and she leaves for work exhausted.
A screenshot from your phone at 3:30 AM sums up the situation with a mix of humor and despair: "The power's back, we need to cook (sounds like a joke, but it's not)."
The testimony is not an isolated case. A Cuban woman got up at 3:40 AM in April to soften beans while the brief return of electricity lasted, and a family from Pinar del Río woke up at 3 AM in March to take advantage of two hours of light—from three to five in the morning—to wash clothes and cook. "They turned it on at a little past 3 in the morning and turned it off again at 5 in the morning," explained Alain, the father of that family.
Another mother demonstrated in February how she washes all the accumulated laundry before preparing lunch for work, and one user went over 40 hours without electricity in March, which led to food spoilage.
The pattern is repeated in hundreds of testimonies: "Every day, you wake up with the worry of having to wash quickly because they will cut the power," described a Cuban mother on social media. Another stated, "No one cares about the sacrifice of putting a plate of food on the table."
The electrical crisis that Cuba has been experiencing since the end of 2024 shows no signs of easing. According to data from the Electric Union, on Friday, May 8, the maximum impact of the day reached 1,876 MW at 8:40 PM, with service affected for 24 hours.
The projected deficit for the nighttime peak was 1,690 MW, with a barely available capacity of 1,510 MW against a demand of 3,200 MW. In April, the worst day recorded an impact of 1,945 MW, affecting up to 62% of the national territory simultaneously.
In many areas, power outages exceed 18 hours daily, and some residents receive barely two hours of electricity each day. The outages have already accumulated more than 2,040 MW of impact during the worst recorded moments this year.
The human cost is devastating. The report "Raising in the Darkness" from the organization Casa Palanca documents cases of mothers experiencing chronic fatigue, emotional collapse, and isolation directly caused by the lack of electricity. Yusimí, one of the interviewed mothers, described her state with three words: "The urge to scream, cry, or disappear."
The Cuban regime admitted in December 2025 that power outages would continue in 2026, promising only a "slight improvement" according to statements from Minister Vicente de la O Levy, a promise contradicted by the reality of each morning.
Filed under: