The character Chequera from the Cuban humorous series Vivir del Cuento posted a video on Facebook in which he satirizes the country's electrical crisis through a fictional award ceremony honoring the most "outstanding" electrical blocks for their blackouts, in a sketch that reflects the collective exhaustion of Cubans in the face of a situation that the government itself acknowledges as unprecedented.
The video of Mario Sardiñas personifies the blocks of the national electrical system as if they were deserving workers receiving diplomas and gladioluses for their performance. "Outstanding blocks for their great performance. With a schedule of five hours, but they manage to exceed 20 hours. More than 10 pot-banging incidents in a month," the character announces at the beginning.
Block 6 receives its diploma and gladiolus from the hands of the "comrade Emergency Circuit" for "over two years of perseverance in eliminating the catao, which has caused great discomfort."
Block 5 is recognized as the standout during peak hours and receives its distinction from the "comrade Total Disconnection, very active lately," with special mention for its "meticulous work" and "endless commitment, despite being a very young block to face the voltages of life."
Block 2, for its part, receives the "compañero DAF" diploma, that is, the Frequency Automatic Disconnection, the protection mechanism that sequentially disconnects the load when the system frequency falls below 60 Hz to prevent a total collapse.
The climax of the sketch arrives when Chequera explains that "the rest of the blocks that couldn't attend was due to a generation deficit," a phrase he repeats with growing desperation: "Generation deficit! Real deficit! Oh my God, another nightmare, Mom! What is this, guys?"
The humor exploits the technical knowledge that Cubans have acquired through living with the crisis: terms like DAF, emergency circuits, or generation deficit have become part of the everyday vocabulary of the population.
The video is published at the worst moment for the Cuban electric system in decades. Last Wednesday, the generation deficit reached a historic record of 2,204 MW, exceeding the previous maximum of 2,153 MW recorded just the night before, which means that Cuba could only generate just over half of the electricity demanded by its population.
On that same day, the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Plant, the largest in the country, went offline due to a boiler malfunction, triggering a partial collapse of the National Electric System. In Havana, power outages exceeded 20 to 22 hours daily, with residents reporting more than 40 continuous hours without electricity.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, acknowledged that the situation was "acute, critical, and extremely tense" and admitted that Cuba did not receive a single fuel ship from December 2025 to the end of March 2026. In April, only one of the eight minimum monthly ships needed to sustain the system arrived.
The protests and demonstrations with pots and pans spread to at least 12 municipalities in Havana, including Marianao, 10 de Octubre, Regla, Luyanó, Santos Suárez, and Nuevo Vedado. In Luyanó, residents blocked the Calzada de Concha. In response to social pressure, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero ordered a better distribution of power outages in the capital.
It’s not the first time that Chequera depicts the energy crisis: in March, he “sold” a pot as an electric switch, and in April he decided to “go to the Moon” aboard the Artemisa II due to exhaustion from the blackouts. The thematic continuity confirms that the electricity crisis has become the dominant theme of Cuban popular humor in 2026.
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