The Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant once again played a central role on Friday in an incident that illustrates the collapse of the Cuban energy system: it synchronized with the National Electroenergetic System at 4:54 PM and just 26 minutes later, at 5:20 PM, the Electric Union announced its new shutdown due to a leak in the boiler.
The official announcement from the state entity was brief: "At 17:20 hours, CTE Antonio Guiteras, offline due to a boiler leak."
The synchronization had been documented minutes earlier by the official journalist José Miguel Solís: "La Guiteras 4:54 pm in line."
The sequence —entry and exit in less than half an hour— triggered a avalanche of ironic and furious reactions on social media. Cubans turned the episode into a subject of ridicule, with comments ranging from dark humor to outright indignation.
«It didn't last even an hour online. Please don't connect it anymore; it can't handle it, and that way you save time,» wrote one user. Another calculated precisely: «26 minutes online,» and a third added: «This record should be noted.»
Several commentators questioned whether the plant was inspected before synchronization. "I don’t know how they’re not embarrassed: they reported a failure due to automation and a minute later there was a leak in the boiler," one of them noted.
Another was more straightforward about the state of the team: "It's known that this boiler can't take any more; it needs major maintenance. Don't try any more than what is possible."
Frustration also targeted the endless cycle of ins and outs. "Go ahead and make the four-month repair that couldn't be done due to the weakness of the SEN. Let it be resolved once and for all and come back with at least one or two months of stability," proposed a user.
Another offered an ironic piece of advice to the UNE: "Next time you come in, don't announce it. Keep it a secret for an entire day while you see it works well… then you can publish it, if it survives 24 hours." The conclusion of many was the same: "It’s a mockery of the people."
The incident this Friday is not an isolated one. La Guiteras had already gone offline from the national electricity system on Thursday due to a leak in the boiler linked to the fifth total collapse of the national electricity system that occurred on July 15, and on July 11, a collapse of the national electricity system abruptly interrupted its startup process when it was about to synchronize.
So far in 2026, the plant has recorded at least 17 unscheduled outages, with the boiler economizer responsible for half of the shutdowns.
The component has been continuously operating in a corrosive environment for over 38 years, and the installation has not received capital maintenance since 2010.
In March, a breakdown of the Guiteras caused a widespread blackout that affected between six and seven million people from Camagüey to Pinar del Río, and in May half of Cuba was left in the dark after another failure with 1,790 MW impacted.
The Electric Union has announced that the plant will cease operations at the end of 2026 for a comprehensive six-month overhaul, although the credibility of this announcement among the Cuban population is virtually non-existent after years of unfulfilled promises and a recurring pattern that remains unchanged: a leak, followed by repairs, brief synchronization, and yet another failure.
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