A Cuban identified as Tatiana Aguilera shared on social media a heartbreaking testimony about the impact of blackouts on her daily life, accompanied by a photograph of the inside of her refrigerator with spoiled food.
"It hurts a lot to go through this situation where even the little bit of crap you can buy goes bad; it feels like a nightmare. I don’t even know what to think anymore. It takes away your desire for everything, you lose your strength," Aguilera wrote in his Facebook post.
His message continues with a sense of total exhaustion: "I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel; this has become a vicious cycle. I want to try to think differently and give my days another meaning because I cannot tolerate this and I will never get used to living in darkness or the misery they are imposing on us."
The testimony reflects a reality that affects millions of Cubans amidst the most severe electricity crisis in the country's recent history, with blackouts in Havana averaging between 15 and 24 hours per day during July 2026.
The National Electric System has collapsed five times so far in 2026, totaling ten outages in the last 24 months. To give one example, in Matanzas, power cuts have lasted up to 87 consecutive hours without electricity.
This is why food loss is one of the most immediate impacts of this energy crisis. Without refrigeration and with temperatures reaching up to 38°C, perishable foods become unsafe in just two hours.
Nationwide, 47.59% of Cuban households reported loss of refrigerated food due to power outages, a figure that exceeds 80% in provinces such as Granma, Matanzas, Pinar del Río, and Sancti Spíritus, according to the National Food Security Survey of the Food Monitor Program.
The damage is not just material. A study published in Social Science & Medicine in May 2026 revealed that 55.4% of Cuban adults suffer from extremely severe depression, 66% from severe anxiety, and 65.8% from extreme stress, directly linked to the uncertainty of power outages.
But Aguilera's case is not an isolated one. Another Cuban woman who bought food and had to face the power outage the next day also shared her experience on social media this week, joining a chain of testimonies that document the daily deterioration.
The accumulated discontent has resulted in a record number of protests: the Cuban Conflict Observatory recorded 1,311 demonstrations in May 2026, the highest number since July 11, 2021, while June saw 107 street protests.
The regime has not offered concrete solutions. Díaz-Canel asked to "better organize the blackouts", and the Minister of Energy, Vicente de la O Levy, admitted that the power cuts would continue throughout 2026, describing the year as "difficult."
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