A Cuban from the diaspora documented her return to the island in a video posted yesterday on TikTok, showing her reunion with her family in complete darkness, without electricity, illuminated only by the flashlights of mobile phones.
The author of the video, identified as @ailetsantos, recorded her arrival in Cuba during a blackout and explained in the description the reason for the low quality of the images: "My arrival in Cuba! Sorry for the quality but there was no electricity. Still, getting home and hugging you all is life for me, I love you so much."
The 52-second clip captures the embrace with their loved ones in the dim light, a scene that starkly encapsulates the everyday reality of millions of Cubans.
The video was released at a time when Cuba is experiencing the worst electrical crisis in its recent history. On June 1, the Electric Union reported a supply of just 1,160 MW against a demand of 2,689 MW, with a projected deficit during peak hours of 1,990 MW and an estimated impact of 2,020 MW.
In May, the deficit reached a record of 2,153 MW on the 13th, and three days later, 51% of the country was left without electricity simultaneously, with outages in some areas of Havana lasting between 20 and 22 hours daily.
The national electric system has experienced seven total collapses in 18 months, including a national blackout lasting 29 hours and 29 minutes on March 16, 2026. The main causes are fuel shortages and the deterioration of thermal infrastructure: as of June 1, 106 distributed generation plants were out of service due to lack of fuel, according to the Electric Union.
The reunion of @ailetsantos is part of a trend that has become common on TikTok: emigrated Cubans returning to the island and documenting the embrace with their families, often in the darkness of a blackout.
A direct precedent occurred on January 8, 2026, when the TikToker William López (@iamcubaa_) surprised his grandmother in Cuba during a blackout under similar circumstances of darkness. In May 2026, other similar reunions accumulated between 407,000 and 710,000 views.
The phenomenon also reflects the scale of the exodus the island is experiencing: more than one million Cubans have left the country since 2021, leaving families separated for years and a resident population of around 8.6 million, compared to the historical figure of 11.3 million.
The darkness as a backdrop to these reunions has become a symbolic image that the Cuban diaspora instantly recognizes, as it encapsulates in a single frame what it means to return home after years of absence: the joy of the embrace and the precariousness imposed by 67 years of dictatorship.
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