Two young Cubans attempted to finish a practical assignment using only the flashlight of a mobile phone during a blackout, in a scene captured on video and posted on Facebook by the user Soybryhtney, whose reel has spread as a testament to the reality faced by students in Cuba.
“They say that Cubans complain a lot, and just wait to see this. We are in the middle of a blackout, and my little brother along with his girlfriend are trying to finish a project, lighting themselves only with the flashlight of his cellphone,” the author narrates in the video that lasts just 21 seconds.
"This is the part that often goes unseen. People who, despite the difficulties, continue studying, striving, and looking for ways to move forward," adds Soybryhtney in her post.
The clip is circulating at one of the worst moments for the Cuban electrical system this year. This Sunday, the Electric Union reported an availability of only 1,000 MW against a demand of 2,570 MW, with 1,572 MW affected since early morning and a projected impact of 2,020 MW for the peak evening hours.
The situation worsened even further with the departure of the National Electric Power System on Saturday from the Felton thermoelectric plant, in addition to the malfunctions already recorded at the Antonio Guiteras, Máximo Gómez, Ernesto Guevara, Lidio Ramón Pérez, and Antonio Maceo plants.
Additionally, 106 distributed generation plants were out of service due to a lack of fuel, equivalent to 890 MW of lost production. Also on Saturday, international media reported that up to 66% of the Cuban territory could be left without electricity simultaneously, making it the largest scheduled blackout in the country's history.
The impact on education is profound and cumulative. The Ministry of Higher Education has relaxed evaluations for the 2025-2026 academic year, reducing exams to the "essential" ones and allowing for portfolios and integrative exams due to the inability to guarantee minimum study conditions.
In April, the entrance exams for the IPVCE in Pinar del Río were canceled and replaced by a ranking based on academic records. In March, university students in Havana staged a sit-in on the steps of the University of Havana demanding solutions to the energy crisis.
In December 2025, students from the University of Camagüey held a cacerolazo after more than 30 hours without electricity, protesting that "it is no longer possible to study or sleep with so many blackouts."
The scene in the video—two young people leaning over their notes under the light of a cellphone—adds to a long series of images that document the daily adaptation of Cubans to the crisis, creating a widespread sense of identification among those who live or have lived that reality both on and off the island.
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