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The intellectual and professor Alina Bárbara López Hernández reacted to the official coverage of the electrical crisis in Matanzas by sharing on her Facebook profile a note from the official Periódico Girón that described the situation as a "complex panorama," while the province was experiencing outages of more than 70 consecutive hours.
They call the disaster a "complex panorama"; even so, Matanzas was deemed "outstanding" in the national emulation for July 26. This may reflect the detachment of the leaders who make such distinctions. The reality is not in the news, but in the comments of the people," López wrote in his post, accompanied by a photograph of a severely rusted transformer on a wooden pole with wires in a chaotic state.
The contradiction pointed out by the intellectual is glaring: the Political Bureau of the PCC declared Matanzas "an outstanding province" in the competition for the 73rd anniversary of the assault on Moncada on June 28, just days before the provincial official newspaper reported the collapse of the electrical system.
According to the Periódico Girón, eight substations remained out of service in the province: four —Lagunilla, Carbonera, Fine, and Bolondrón— due to technical failures, and another four —México, Gratitud, Manuelito, and San Joaquín— due to the theft of dielectric oil.
This was compounded by 63 damaged transformers throughout the province, some having sustained damage since May, with Cárdenas and Jovellanos being the municipalities with the highest number of unresolved complaints.
López also commented directly on the post from Periódico Girón: "They are a bunch of frauds. Don't say that we need to 'look for bargains' or that we need to 'develop strategies,' that's the same vague, ambiguous rhetoric where no one takes responsibility for anything and it has no grounding in reality."
The avalanche of responses from the people of Matanzas in that same publication reflected an unfiltered frustration. One comment compared the situation to a greater disaster: "Calling the current situation a 'complex panorama' is like referring to the sinking of the Titanic as a 'minor incident'." Another summarized the irony of the official award: "If this is the outstanding one, I don’t want to see the others." A third was even more direct: "Summary: We are in deep trouble."
Even Periódico Girón ended up limiting comments on its publication following the wave of criticism.
The national energy context worsens the situation. By June 30, the Electric Union reported a generation deficit of 2,052 MW against an estimated demand of 3,200 MW, with only 1,148 MW available nationwide.
Matanzas is historically the province with the highest power cut capacity in the national system: 174 MW across 123 circuits against a demand of 238 MW. The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, located in the province and regarded as the main generator in the country, has experienced 16 disconnections so far in 2026.
López Hernández, a Doctor of Philosophical Sciences and university professor, has been under house arrest since June 2024, accused of the crime of "assault." Her trial, scheduled for January 2026, has been indefinitely postponed. Despite these restrictions, she remains active on social media where she systematically criticizes the regime.
Meanwhile, the governor of Matanzas, Marieta Poey Zamora, urged the Family Assistance Systems to "prepare croquettes, hamburgers, and fritters" for children on vacation, and requested "to find strategies to prevent crowds at the banks" in light of the lines of retirees waiting to collect their pensions under the sun. Statements that, like the official distinction, generated more mockery than relief among the population.
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