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A Cuban mother who works as an independent pastry chef posted a message on Facebook that went viral as she described in heartbreaking detail the extreme exhaustion she endures with her daughters in Cuba, after more than 26 consecutive hours without electricity.
"I'm mentally exhausted... at maximum exhaustion level, like a fully drained high-end phone," wrote the woman, whose testimony encapsulates in a few lines the daily reality of millions of Cubans.
The pastry chef recounts that she had to walk long distances with body pains to gather supplies for her business, because paying for transportation would cost her the equivalent of three days' wages.
"Walking, because if I pay for transportation, they'll charge me what I earn in three days of work with a lot of sacrifice," he explained.
Coal, its only alternative in the face of the shortage of gas and electricity, costs nearly 3,000 pesos per sack and lasts less than 20 days, making it an almost unaffordable expense for many Cuban families.
He waited until two in the morning for the power to return to try making sweets, but the electricity went out again before he could do so.
"When they put it on at 2 in the morning, I jumped out of bed to get everything ready and make some sweets to sell... but I didn't manage to do anything. Before I knew it, they took it off again," he narrated.
Her daughters couldn't sleep that night either: without a charged fan, the woman opened all the windows, trying to let some air in to relieve the heat of the early morning.
The pastry business, its only source of income, has been at a standstill for weeks.
"I have rejected countless requests for birthday cakes because I simply cannot work like this. And like me, there are thousands of Cuban men and women fighting, stuck and frustrated by the helplessness of this situation," he denounced.
The message lists with striking precision: "No water. No power. No internet. No rest. No peace. No desire to live many times."
Your question resonates like a collective cry: "How can a Cuban maintain mental health" if they don't sleep, don't eat well, and live burdened with problems?
The testimony is set against the backdrop of the worst energy crisis that Cuba has faced in its recent history. During May, the generation deficit exceeded 2,000 MW during peak hours, with blackouts lasting up to 20 to 24 hours daily in several provinces.
On May 13, a record deficit of 2,153 MW was recorded, and last Thursday the maximum impact was 1,957 MW, with an availability of only 1,260 MW compared to a demand of 2,740 MW.
In March 2026, a nationwide blackout left the entire island without electricity for 29 hours and 29 minutes, the third of its kind in four months.
The impact on the mental health of the population has been scientifically documented.
A study published in Social Science & Medicine on May 25 confirmed "extremely severe" levels of depression, anxiety, and stress in Cuban adults exposed to prolonged blackouts, noting that the impact on daily routine—rather than just the duration of the outage—is the main predictor of psychological deterioration.
Specialists have warned about the risk of a potential mental health epidemic, while the PAHO/WHO describes the situation in Cuba as an "unprecedented crisis."
The mother concluded her message with a direct appeal to the regime's authorities: "Please... enough already. Do something for your people. Have mercy on the children, the elderly, the women who never stop, and the men who support families under extreme fatigue. Because there are indeed solutions. Improvement is possible. A future can exist. But we need to live... not just survive."
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