A young Cuban residing in the United States, identified on TikTok as @mar_moran99, posted a video lasting over eight minutes yesterday, in which she emotionally erupts against the electricity crisis in Cuba, triggered by the fact that her grandmother has been without electricity for 25 hours.
"Twenty-five hours without electricity, children, teenagers, illnesses taking their toll, without resources, without medicine," the young woman denounces at the beginning of the recording, before describing Cuba as "an island in darkness in the middle of the sea, completely captive, unable to express oneself, unable to shout."
The trigger for their outrage is the coincidence between the prolonged blackouts and the celebration of the event "Start of Summer 2K26" in Varadero, a 72-hour continuous party organized by Gaviota Tours — a state-owned company of the GAESA group — at the Resonance Musique Hotel, which guarantees electricity for tourists while the rest of the country endures outages of between 20 and 35 hours daily.
"All the electricity is being used to launch the summer season, and you see three or four people promoting the hotels so that the dictatorship continues to line its pockets and attract tourism," states the author of the video.
The young woman also strikes hard at Cuban influencers abroad who promote hotels, travel agencies, and remittances to the island, accusing them of being accomplices of the regime: "I'm fed up with Cuban influencers promoting travel agencies, promoting crap, while the country is falling apart."
He describes power outages as "the worst psychological torture" that can be inflicted on a people: "They can't leave their homes because when they go out and the electricity returns, they regret it. Therefore, they stay inside, waiting for the pitiful hour of electricity to be able to cook, to be able to wash."
In the video, it also shows several packages with power plants and EcoFlow equipment that are prepared to be sent to Cuba the next day, an image that encapsulates the reality of thousands of families in the diaspora who support their relatives with technology due to the regime's inability to ensure basic supplies.
The author has not seen her grandmother for six years and claims she promised to see her again before she passed away. “Because of those who are there and those who are here, there is no change,” she laments.
The electrical crisis described is real and documented. On May 13, arecord electrical deficit of 2,153 MW was recorded, with outages lasting between 20 to 22 hours daily, and on May 26, interruptions of up to 50 hours were reported in some municipalities. In Holguín, the electricity company acknowledged that the population would have only three hours of power per day while tourism was prioritized.
The outrage over the Varadero event is not new. Los Pichy Boys criticized the parties last Sunday, labeling them as an attempt by the dictatorship to "demonstrate normalcy," and Yomil also lashed out at an artist who participated in the event. Sandro Castro, grandson of Fidel Castro, promoted the start of summer on Instagram with luxurious activities such as lunch at Casa Dupont, jet skis, and a beach party.
The Cuban Observatory of Conflicts recorded 1,133 protests just in April 2026, featuring pot-banging and shouts of “Down with the dictatorship!” in Havana neighborhoods such as Lawton, Luyanó, and Guanabacoa. In Alamar, a protest against power outages ended with police repression and at least one arrest.
"If they can't handle that country, they should hand it over. Until when?" the young woman concludes in her video, a question that encapsulates the desperation of millions of Cubans both on the island and abroad.
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