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Ilsa Ramos, wife of political prisoner Yasmany González Valdés, posted this Wednesday on Facebook a heartbreaking message denouncing that her 16-year-old son with autism has been without electricity for over 24 hours, exposed to the heat and mosquito bites.
"This is the heartbreaking image of my 16-year-old baby who suffers from autism. More than 24 hours without electricity. The EcoFlow that my cousin sent me and the rechargeable fans that Orquídea sent me are out of battery. He was bitten by mosquitoes. Our children do not deserve to live like this. Down with the cruel Castro-Canel dictatorship. Freedom for my husband Yasmany and all political prisoners," wrote Ramos.
The case of Ramos illustrates a double tragedy: that of a family separated by political repression and that of the devastating electrical crisis affecting Cuba, with power outages in Havana lasting between 20 and 22 hours daily, and in some provinces reaching 72 consecutive hours.
This Wednesday, according to data from the Electric Union, the system's availability was barely 970 MW compared to a demand of 2,525 MW, with over 1,555 MW affected. The outage of the Guiteras thermoelectric plant on June 15 further exacerbated the already critical energy deficit.
The situation is hitting families with vulnerable members who rely on ventilators and cooling equipment with particular cruelty. The case of Ramos is not unique: the activist Ernesto Almaguer Díaz, from Holguín, also the father of an autistic child, experienced 45 hours without electricity in June and managed to raise over $2,125 and 1.5 million Cuban pesos thanks to the solidarity of the diaspora to purchase a portable battery.
González Valdés, a rapper and activist, enjoyed his first parole pass in three years on May 4, 2026, but the regime and returned him to Combinado del Este as punishment for posting photos of his physical deterioration on social media.
The Observatory of Cultural Rights characterized that decision as "a direct punishment for publicly expressing concern about the inhumane prison conditions" and noted that "the Cuban penitentiary system uses conditional benefits not as tools for reintegration, but as mechanisms for obedience and silencing."
The health condition of the activist is alarming. In September 2025, Ramos described him as follows: “He looked like a skeleton, with a sunken face, very thin arms, his pants falling down due to extreme thinness, and without any teeth”.
Ramos has been facing harassment from the State Security for years. In February 2024, she protested along the Malecón in Havana with her autistic son, and since her husband's arrest, she has continued to demand his release: "My husband is unjustly imprisoned, and I will not get tired of saying it," she declared at the time.
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