Related videos:
A photograph of a small girl sleeping face down on the tiled floor of her home, barefoot and wearing a purple t-shirt, became this Saturday the most painful symbol of the electrical crisis that is destroying the daily lives of Cubans.
Her father, Renato Miguel García Granado, published it on Facebook along with a message of anger directed straight at the Electric Company of Havana and other state institutions.
"That you see in the photo is my daughter. I didn’t put her to sleep on the floor, and I never would. She did it herself, trying to find something cold to sleep on. Is this human? Is this communism?" wrote García Granado, who added that he supports intervention and does not believe in the regime's institutions.
"Stick your new policies where the sun doesn’t shine, because while all your families are resting well, my daughter goes off alone to the apartment to cool down," she concluded.
The publication came at one of the worst moments of the Cuban energy collapse. This Saturday, the Electric Union reported an estimated impact of 1,600 MW at noon and a forecast of 2,075 MW during the night peak, against a demand of approximately 3,050 MW with only 1,035 MW available.
In Havana, blackouts last between 20 and 24 hours daily in several neighborhoods. On June 18, the Electric Company of Havana itself acknowledged that "it has not been possible to meet the scheduled times due to a deficit."
The extreme heat turns the situation into a trap with no escape.
On June 13, Pinar del Río recorded a historic high of 37.6 °C, and the Institute of Meteorology predicted an "extremely hot" summer with temperatures exceeding historical averages. Without electricity, fans, or air conditioning, entire families have chosen to sleep on porches and in hallways to escape the heat.
The case of García Granado's daughter is not isolated.
On the same Saturday, the testimony of another father whose two children slept on the porch after more than 24 hours without electricity was shared. On June 3, a mother recounted enduring 30 hours of blackout with her children without being able to rest. And on June 2, a girl had gone three nights without being able to sleep due to the heat and blackouts.
The father's post generated an avalanche of reactions. A user who is also a father wrote: "Do you know what homeland is? Homeland is your daughter, it's mine, it's everyone’s. For this and for them, down with everything." A mother expressed: "Every time I see these things, my chest tightens. How long, my God?"
Another commented: "In the same way, they can shove their measures up the ass while the people continue to suffer, including my children. Down with this government that is putting an entire country through so much hardship."
Several comments explicitly rejected the package of 176 economic reforms that Díaz-Canel announced on June 12 —supported by Raúl Castro on June 17— as irrelevant in light of daily suffering. "These measures bring nothing good for us, they only seek to maintain power," wrote one user.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, has acknowledged that the Cuban energy situation is "acute, critical, and extremely tense," as the electrical system has experienced at least seven total collapses in the last 18 months.
Filed under: