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The Provincial Electric Company of Guantánamo posted on Facebook an institutional text titled "Voices that Illuminate: Call Center 18888" in which it praised the work of its telephone operators. The choice of the word "illuminate" to refer to a company that keeps the province in blackouts of up to 20 hours daily sparked a wave of mockery and ironic comments.
The official text described the team of number 18888 as "an essential pillar for communication" that works "tirelessly" around the clock, concluding that "its silent but constant work illuminates the lives of thousands of people."
The contradiction was immediate for the people of Guantánamo, who responded with widespread dark humor in the comments.
"Thank goodness the voices illuminate because the company only shuts down," wrote Liety Hernández.
Other users were just as direct: "The UNE is in charge of humor. They don't provide a current, but they make us laugh," noted Idania Núñez.
Dozens of comments described the post as a "meme," "joke," and "sarcasm." Yadrian González proposed an alternative title: "Voices that never respond."
The complaint about the inability to communicate with the number 18888 was common.
"That number is an impossible mission. It’s almost always busy; it’s no coincidence that even if your finger hurts from dialing repeatedly, it still gives you a ringing tone. I think they pick up the phone," wrote Yanelis Cabrera Rodríguez.
Andrés Aragón pointed out the usual response when contact is actually made: "But if all they can say is 'We are at maximum off'."
Yalina Ortega summed up the general sentiment: "They almost never answer the phone, and the motto is Maximum Turnoff. All we have left is to laugh."
The backdrop to the mockery is an unprecedented electrical crisis in Guantánamo: the UNE itself acknowledged this past Saturday that there are eight damaged transformers in the province —three in Baracoa, two in Maisí, two in El Salvador, and one in Manuel Tames— and that there are no available equipment to repair them.
The municipalities of Imías, San Antonio del Sur, Jamal, and Maisí are experiencing continuous outages of up to 20 hours, with no short-term solution in sight.
The national situation is not any better. On Tuesday, Cuba was generating only about 990 MW against a peak demand of 3,000 MW, meeting barely one-third of the country's needs, with 106 distributed generation plants out of service due to a lack of fuel.
The director of the Customer Service Center, Soraida Sosa de los Reyes, acknowledged in the publication itself that the job "involves dealing with the pressure of critical situations, maintaining calm in the face of customers' frustration."
The chief specialist of the center, Daily Falcón, stated that she aims to "promote a culture of transparency in customer care."
The record for generation deficit so far in 2026 was recorded on May 14 with 2,174 MW, leaving about 70% of the national territory without electricity simultaneously.
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