The human rights activist Bárbara Farrat Guillén published a video this Tuesday from the Havana neighborhood of Luyanó, where she reported being without water for five days, nearly 24 hours without electricity, and without gas, while trying to make coffee with limited resources.
"Good morning, family, well, if you can call it a good morning. Five days without water, and now there's no gas either. We no longer have power outages; we have blackouts because we've been without electricity in the Luyanó area for nearly 24 hours. Just look at where they are leading us," Farrat said in the video.
The activist described her emotional state as being at its limit: "Honestly, this country has me on the brink of madness. Not just on the brink, it has already driven me crazy."
In the text that accompanied the publication, Farrat delivered a direct message against the regime: "My God, give me strength and patience to keep fighting. In a country that is a hell. Freedom for all our brave brothers. Down with Canel. Down with the dictatorship."
In another post, the activist directly blamed the government for the collapse of basic services and revealed that the crisis is also affecting her family: "Thank you, Canel, thank you, Castro, thank you, dictatorship. I have my two children sick, and I am sinking into depression. Thank you for taking away even our will to live."
Farrat is a well-known figure in Cuban activism.
She became a public activist after the detention of her son Jonathan Torres Farrat, who was arrested on August 13, 2021, at the age of 17 for participating in the protests of July 11 of that year. Before that, she was a modest woman who sold peanuts on the street.
Jonathan was released in May 2022 after more than nine months in prison, although his situation changed to "corrective work without internment."
Since then, Farrat has repeatedly reported harassment by State Security, threats, and police presence outside her home. In April 2024, the roof of her house almost completely collapsed and she had to seek public assistance to repair it.
Farrat's testimony reflects a structural crisis impacting hundreds of thousands of Cubans. Cuba is experiencing its worst energy collapse in decades: the Electric Union reported on Monday a capacity of only 1,035 MW against a demand of 3,050 MW, with a projected shortfall of 2,045 MW during peak nighttime usage.
More than 106 distributed generation facilities were out of service due to a lack of fuel, and the Minister of Energy acknowledged daily blackouts lasting between 20 to 22 hours in the capital.
The electricity crisis is also affecting the water supply: 376,055 people in Havana lack regular access to drinking water, with more than 309,000 of them experiencing this because power outages render the pumps inoperative, as 87% of the Cuban aqueduct system relies on the National Electric System.
The situation has led to pot-banging protests in several neighborhoods of Havana, including El Vedado, Centro Habana, Playa, and San Miguel del Padrón.
In April 2026, Farrat publicly addressed Díaz-Canel to state that the detention of her son transformed her "from a humble woman into a tireless activist." Today, from Luyanó, her voice remains one of the most direct against the regime: "Family, homeland, life, and freedom."
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