In just 15 seconds, the popular comedian Mario Sardiñas (Chequera) achieved what no official report has been able to explain so clearly: in Cuba, day and night are no longer what they used to be. In his latest reel published on Facebook, the beloved character from "Vivir del Cuento" is seen warmly greeting with "Good evening, Caridad. Good evening, Nidia. Good evening, Farándula," in broad daylight.
When someone points out the absurdity — "Check it out, buddy, why are you saying good evening to people when it's 12:00 PM?" — Chequera responds with a phrase that sums up the energy reality of the Island better than any statistic: "Dude, it's clear you’re not from block 6."
The joke, seemingly innocent, is actually a condensed documentary. In Cuba, the Electric Union (UNE) organizes rotating blackouts by numbered circuit blocks. Block 6 is not a comedic invention: it is a perfectly recognizable reference for any Cuban who checks the electric company's announcements daily to know when, if at all, they will have electricity. And their anxieties, it goes without saying, are shared by the other blocks, by all of Cuba.
The numbers behind the joke are terrifying. In May 2026, UNE reported several times deficits exceeding 2,100 MW, leaving nearly 70% of the country without electricity during peak hours. In the most affected blocks, outages accumulated over 20 hours each day. If the power comes on in the early morning and goes out at dawn, saying "good night" at noon is not a mistake: it’s adaptation. Or a mental disorder, who knows.
In Santiago de Cuba, the situation became almost inhumane. The provincial electrical director Lester Salvador Cedeño admitted on May 31 that blackouts not only exceeded 20 hours a day, but they couldn't even manage "two hours of service." In Songo-La Maya, over 50 consecutive hours without electricity were recorded. In Havana, the most affected circuits accumulated between 20 and 22 hours of daily outages.
The Cuban electric system has experienced seven total collapses in just 18 months, a record that no revolutionary government would dare to celebrate, although Chequera surely already has the trophy ready.
And this is not the first video of the character regarding the energy crisis. In April, El Cheque announced that he was heading to the Moon to escape the blackouts aboard the ship "Artemisa," although the punchline was that "they stole the fuel from the ship." In May, the character organized an award ceremony for the most outstanding electrical blocks for their power cuts, with the solemnity that the topic deserves.
Mario Sardiñas, the actor who has portrayed Chequera for over 14 years in "Vivir del Cuento," has turned this character into one of the most accurate gauges of Cuban popular humor. While the regime speaks of a "critical situation" and "generation deficit," Chequera translates that bureaucracy into the language of the streets: that of someone who cooks at three in the morning because that's when the electricity is on, sleeps during the day because at night there’s no fan, and greets people with "good evening" when the sun is at its highest. Or goes out to give a tremendous pot-banging, even at the risk of police repression.
The electrical crisis of 2026, attributed to a lack of fuel and the deterioration of an infrastructure that has seen no real investment for decades, has completely disrupted the rhythms of life for Cubans. The fact that a 15-second video about confusing day with night has amassed over 127,000 views and more than 7,000 reactions speaks volumes about how many Cubans felt represented.
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