A Cuban woman captured a scene on Wednesday that encapsulates the desperation of thousands of families in Havana: children sleeping on the floor of a doorway at the corner of Prado and Virtudes, in the heart of Havana, while the city remained without electricity.
Teresa Calderín Elias published the 36-second video on Facebook, and the response was immediate: over 179 thousand views and 360 comments in just a few hours.
"Look at this, this is at Prado and Virtudes. This is a shame, this is an outrage. Look at the children sleeping on the floor. There is still no light," says the author while recording the scene, with the sound of car horns in the background.
The Paseo del Prado, one of the most emblematic and tourist-frequented avenues in the capital, thus becomes the backdrop for the electrical collapse that the Cuban regime has been unable - and unwilling - to resolve.
This Thursday, the electricity generation deficit in Cuba reaches 2,100 MW, with an availability of only 1,100 MW against a demand of 3,200 MW, according to data from the Electric Union.
In Havana, power outages average more than 30 consecutive hours, and some circuits in Centro Habana have accumulated over 28 consecutive hours without electricity, gas, or water.
Calderín's video is not an isolated case; rather, it is part of a wave of testimonials that have gone viral this year.
On Tuesday, content creator Alfredito Fominaya filmed his children sleeping on the floor at 2:27 AM due to the heat and mosquitoes, while he questioned: "Why do I have to endure? What we need is freedom. What we need is for the misery to end."
At the end of June, a mother posted a picture of her children sleeping on the floor with the phrase "We hold the Guinness record for endurance", which received nearly 18,000 reactions.
Days earlier, a father shared a photo of his two children sleeping all night on a doorstep after more than 24 hours without electricity, describing the image as "a synonym for helplessness."
Desperation has overwhelmed social media and spilled into the streets: on Tuesday, residents of La Lisa protested in front of the municipal headquarters of the PCC after more than 50 hours without electricity or water, chanting "The people united will never be defeated."
On Wednesday, protests with pots and pans were reported in El Vedado and a heavy police operation took place in Cerro de La Habana.
The Cuban Observatory of Conflicts recorded 1,311 protests in May, the highest figure since July 11, 2021, featuring pot-banging and barricades in at least 12 municipalities in Havana.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, admitted that Cuba operated without fuel reserves between December 2025 and May 2026, while the regime continues to demand that the populace "endure," a narrative that the Cubans themselves increasingly reject with growing indignation.
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