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The Cuban Deimi Mederos Ramírez shared in the Facebook group "Madres Cubanas Luchadoras" a heartrending testimony about how power outages ruined an entire pot of red beans that she had prepared with great financial effort for her son.
The woman recounted that her son asked her for "quite a bit of stew," and that she didn't hesitate to buy the package of beans for 500 pesos, fully aware that in today's Cuba "a pot of beans is an investment."
To the list of ingredients, a head of garlic was added for 70 pesos, a pork leg for 250 pesos, a bunch of cilantro for 50 pesos, and a small packet of tropical seasoning for 70 pesos, in addition to chili and onion.
"I don't want to do the math so I won't cry," wrote the author of the testimony, who preferred not to calculate the total spent.
When she went to heat up the stew, the beans had fermented due to the power outages.
"A whole pot gone to waste, like so many things I had to throw away," she lamented.
The woman did not hide her outrage: "The power outages are endless, this is abusive."
The testimony also included a veiled criticism of those who participated in the May Day parade defending the government: "Sometimes I wonder if those people who march on May First and defend this don't also go through these things."
With irony, he added: "I'm sure the Americans are also to blame for the beans going bad."
The most painful scene is the one described at the end: calling his son for lunch and imagining "his little face of disappointment when he learns what happened to their precious beans."
These types of losses are not isolated cases. According to the Food Security Survey 2025, based on 2,513 valid responses collected across the 16 Cuban provinces, 47.59% of respondents nationwide reported that their refrigerated food spoiled due to prolonged power outages.
In four provinces, that figure exceeds 80% of households.
Additionally, 80.39% of respondents stated that power outages impacted their ability to cook, nearly 10 percentage points higher than the previous year.
The organization behind the study warned that the situation in 2026 is "much more alarming" than in 2025.
The projected electricity generation deficit for the nightly peak on Monday was 1,985 MW, with a morning availability of only 1,430 MW against a demand of 2,750 MW, according to data from the Unión Eléctrica.
The energy crisis has worsened following the cessation of Venezuelan oil since November 2025 and the suspension of supplies from Mexico, leaving the Cuban electrical system on the verge of permanent collapse.
Cuba has experienced at least five total collapses of the National Electric System in 2026 so far, including a nationwide blackout on March 16 that was the longest of the year.
The official maximum prices for common beans, set by the Council of Ministers in March 2025, had already reached 285 pesos per pound in retail sales, although informal prices often exceed this.
It is not the first time that Cuban women have documented this drama: other mothers have shown defrosted refrigerators, spoiled food, and even spoiled baby food after entire nights without electricity.
“Nobody knows what we suffer day by day,” concluded the author of the testimony, a phrase that encapsulates the reality of millions of Cubans trapped between endless blackouts and a relentless food crisis.
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