Cubadisco is playing in Havana while the people are experiencing a blackout: "Is there a greater audacity?"

A resident of the Focsa building area in El Vedado, Havana, posted a complaint in the Facebook group "Unión Eléctrica en Cuba": while on Sunday his neighborhood experienced only four hours of electricity, the entire area of Pabellón Cuba - host of the International Cubadisco Fair 2026 - remained fully lit.

The author, identified as Guglielmo Tell, accompanied his text with a nighttime photograph of Havana that starkly showcased the contrast: a lit area set against dark stretches of the city.

"What’s happening with La Piragua seems endless, but now we also have the Cubadisco fair at the Pabellón Cuba cutting off our electricity. Today, Sunday, we had barely 4 hours of power at Focsa and the surrounding area," he wrote.

According to his account, the illuminated area extended uninterrupted from the Pavilion to the Port Avenue, "except for a small strip near the (Ameijeiras) hospital."

Tell also described that the space known as La Piragua, on the Malecón, hosted a party that lasted until two in the morning, after which groups of people wandered through the neighborhood and ended up in bottle-throwing fights in front of the Capri hotel.

"Is there perhaps a greater sham than using the country's situation as an excuse for all this corruption? Taking away people's electricity for entire days to provide it for riots, and even for a concert lasting 2 hours?" she asked indignantly.

The complainant was even more straightforward in pointing out the beneficiaries of this unequal distribution: "Do we have to be trapped in our homes and apartments so that a handful of oligarchs-businessmen can live the high life? And at the expense of even causing unrest with total impunity?"

The incident occurs at the worst moment of the Cuban electricity crisis so far this year. On Tuesday, May 19, the Electric Union reported a capacity of only 1,150 MW against a demand of 2,700 MW, with 1,550 MW affected since the early hours.

The pattern of selective blackouts has been a constant source of outrage. On May 8, the viral phrase "In the boss of the UNE's block, there is power" circulated, highlighting preferential treatment for officials.

On May 19, an image of Havana in darkness shared on X showed that "only government buildings and luxury hotels have light."

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz ordered last week to review the rotation of blocks to distribute power outages more equitably, but the citizens' response was summed up in another viral phrase: "They don't respect Marrero."

The Cuban Observatory of Conflicts recorded 1,133 protests in April 2026, of which 153 were related to public services, particularly power outages and water shortages, illustrating the extent to which the energy crisis has overwhelmed the patience of the population.