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Medical students from Pinar del Río and Granma have made separate complaints public, demanding the suspension or modification of the final exams, arguing that prolonged power outages and the deterioration of teaching conditions have left them without the minimum preparation to face them.
The letters, sent to the editorial office of CiberCuba, have sparked a divided debate: while many students from other faculties express solidarity, others criticize the whistleblowers and argue that power outages are not a valid excuse to suspend exams or perform poorly.
The first complaint comes from first-year students at the University of Medical Sciences "Ernesto Che Guevara" in Pinar del Río, who signed a collective letter addressed to the academic authorities.
They point out that the low results in the partial exams for the subjects Nervous, Endocrine, and Reproductive Systems (SNER) and Nutrition and Metabolism already show the accumulated damage.
"This lack of preparation is not an assumption; it is a proven reality," they wrote.
"If the midterms have already shown this deterioration due to constant interruptions, power outages, and lack of time to study, a comprehensive final exam could be disastrous for most students this year," they noted.
The students from Pinar del Río acknowledge the effort of their teachers, but they warn that "the harsh reality facing the country surpasses any individual will."
Backed by a petition, they formally request the elimination of final exams or a significant reduction in the content assessed, and they urge their peers from other provinces to join the protest.
The second complaint comes from Manzanillo, where third-year medical students from the Celia Sánchez Manduley Faculty displayed the grades from the second midterm exam in Internal Medicine: a list where not a single score of five appears, and where the number two —the minimum passing grade in the Cuban system, which ranges from two to five— overwhelmingly dominates.
"We want to file a complaint because we believe that the situation has already become an abuse," they wrote.
Students attribute the results to a dual cause: power outages in Granma often exceed 50 accumulated hours, which prevents them from charging devices and accessing educational materials, and the responsible teacher allegedly administers exams with ambiguous questions and errors in wording.
They also point out a striking inequity: their peers from municipalities such as Niquero, Pilón, Media Luna, Campechuela, Yara, and Bartolomé Masó, who perform in different venues, achieve considerably better results.
"We can’t take it anymore. We feel voiceless and without real spaces to express our grievances," concludes the letter from Manzanillo.
Both complaints arise at the worst moment of the Cuban electrical crisis in decades, with a generation deficit that in June 2026 reached between 2,040 and 2,147 MW during peak hours, and areas of the country experiencing more than 72 continuous hours without electricity.
The impact on education had already forced the Ministry of Higher Education to suspend the university entrance exams for the 2026-2027 academic year, replacing them with the cumulative academic index.
In May of last year, sixth-year medical students in Santiago de Cuba had their hospital rotations suspended to fulfill an mandatory military training as part of the so-called "Year of Preparation for Defense."
The reactions to the letters from Pinar del Río and Granma reflect the social divide created by the crisis: there are those who applaud the courage of the students for speaking out, but also voices that reproach them, arguing that power outages should not be a reason to call for exam cancellations or to justify poor performance.
The students of Pinar del Río anticipated that criticism and addressed it in advance: "For a fair, empathetic education that is adapted to the reality we live in!"
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