Obtaining charcoal in Cuba has become a daily odyssey for millions of families who rely on this fuel for cooking amid prolonged blackouts and a lack of gas, as depicted in a reel posted on Facebook by Chuly Montenegro that captures the daily struggle of a Cuban woman to light her stove.
The energy crisis affecting the island in 2026 has practically eliminated stable access to electricity and liquefied gas.
Power outages reach between 22 and 36 hours daily in several provinces, with a generation deficit of approximately 2,040 MW against a demand of 3,000 MW, which has pushed more than nine million Cubans to resort to coal and wood stoves as the only alternative for cooking.
The price of coal in the informal market starkly reflects the extent of the crisis. A sack that cost about 300 pesos in Santiago de Cuba in 2022 has surpassed 1,000 pesos in February 2025, and in June 2026 it ranges between 2,800 and 5,000 pesos depending on the region, in a country where the average state salary barely covers basic needs.
The most devastating paradox is that the Cuban government exports that same coal to Europe to earn foreign currency. An economic association from Camagüey exported over 150 tons to the European continent in the first quarter of 2026, generating more than 55,000 dollars, while the domestic market remains understocked.
The Agroforestry Company of Pinar del Río planned to export 250 of the 300 tons produced in 2025, leaving only 50 for local consumption, according to reports on the increase in coal exports.
In Guáimaro, Camagüey, the authorities have gone so far as to fine those who attempt to sell charcoal informally, exacerbating the already existing shortage of fuel in an area where it is scarce.
Far from acknowledging the failure of its policies, the regime has turned the use of coal and firewood into an official slogan.
On March 28, 2026, Miguel Díaz-Canel ordered during the 11th National Defense Day to "ensure materials for cooking from charcoal to firewood," a formulation he had already used in May 2025 during a visit to Manicaragua and Cifuentes, indicating that this is a consolidated policy and not an emergency measure.
The human consequences of this situation are severe. More than 715 state bakeries have been converted to wood or charcoal by March 2026. A Cuban burned pages from Che Guevara's diary to light her stove, an incident reported on May 19. And on June 14, a nine-month-old baby suffered burns while his family was cooking with charcoal during a prolonged blackout.
The state-controlled press, instead of denouncing this regression, went so far as to present coal as an "ecological alternative" in February 2026, while the government declared 2026 as the "Year of Defense Preparation" and urged the population to adopt the use of coal and firewood under the euphemism of "creative resistance."
As a citizen publication circulating on social media points out, capturing the sentiment of millions: "Cooking in Cuba has become an impossible mission."
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