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A resident of the municipality Playa in Havana, publicly reported in the Facebook group of the Electric Company of Havana that her circuit had accumulated 40 consecutive hours without electricity, while the block located right across from her house was sleeping with the lights on.
"40 hours of blackout in block 2 of Playa. And I look in front of my house. Block 3. It slept with electricity. They haven't been without that vital service for even 16 hours. And I wonder: is there power generation? I throw away the food spoiled by the heat and lack of refrigeration. I can't sleep as any human being should. I can't access water," wrote the author of the post, which gathered almost 2,000 reactions.
The woman noted that the outages lasting between 30 and 40 hours in her circuit began exactly the previous Friday, and she pointed directly at the Unión Eléctrica (UNE): "It is clear that the Unión Eléctrica is incompetent in distributing the little generation that exists equitably or, worse yet, why did these blackouts start exactly on Friday? UNE, you are incompetent but you give us something to think about."
A subsequent comment on the same post raised the figure to 42 hours of blackout in that circuit.
The complaint triggered an avalanche of responses from residents in various parts of Havana, all reporting similar or worse situations: 24 hours without electricity in Playa Querejeta, 26 hours in Los Pinos (Arroyo Naranjo), up to 30 hours daily in El Pilar and Ataré (Cerro), along with prolonged outages in Guanabo, Casino Deportivo, and the area between 23 and 16.
"I don't know which part of block 3 that is, because I live in Los Pinos, Arroyo Naranjo, and we haven't had electricity for 26 hours. We haven't slept at night for over 15 days. There are circuits that never go out, that always have power. Greetings from the darkness," wrote one of the commenters.
Several neighbors reported that the inequality in distribution is not accidental. "It is already known that the Electric Company of Havana is profiting from the needs and misfortunes of the people. They have protection over circuits they pay for so that they are not shut off, while the blackout hours fall on other areas," noted another commentator.
Others called for not directing frustration towards better-served neighbors. "The block in front is not the cause of your misfortune. The same incompetent people who have this country in ruins are," warned one user.
Another added, "I want light for everyone. I hope the day comes when we stop being our own enemy. Don't fall into their trap. Envy is very useful to them and it makes us fight among ourselves."
The collective exhaustion was summarized in a widely circulated comment: "Please, if I die in this run, don’t say 'rest in peace,' say 'eternal light.'"
The events take place at the worst moment for the Cuban electrical system in decades.
The UNE reported this month a generation deficit exceeding 2,000 MW during peak night hours, with an availability of only 950 to 1,015 MW against a demand of between 2,570 and 3,050 MW. More than 106 distributed generation plants remain offline due to a lack of fuel.
In Havana, power outages reach between 20 and 24 hours daily, while in Matanzas, the cuts have lasted up to 72 and 85 consecutive hours.
The municipality of Playa has been accumulating incidents since January: in May, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero ordered to "better distribute" the blackouts in the capital, implicitly acknowledging the unequal distribution that residents are now documenting hour by hour.
"The electricity is a right to life and also a paid service that must be provided. Everything else is just talk," concluded one of the commentators.
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