The Cuban actor Luis Alberto García Novoa made an ironic bet on social media this Wednesday that quickly became a barometer of public frustration: he predicted that the National Electric System (SEN) and ETECSA will fail again on July 25 and 26, just as they did during the days of the 10th and 11th of the same month.
"On July 10 and 11, SEN and ETECSA went down. The same will probably happen on the 25th and 26th. Right? I’m taking bets," García wrote on his Facebook profile, in a post that sparked a flood of comments filled with irony and resignation.
On July 25 and 26, the official Cuban calendar is at its busiest: the regime celebrates the 73rd anniversary of the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks, with this year's central event assigned to Pinar del Río, a province suffering daily power outages of between 20 and 40 hours.
García's bet does not come out of nowhere, as on July 10, the SEN suffered its fourth total collapse of the year, leaving millions of people across the country without electricity. Additionally, two days earlier, on July 8, the regime recorded the largest historical deficit of the SEN: 2,341 MW.
That massive blackout, along with the outages lasting over 24 hours in some areas, also resulted in a decline in ETECSA's services.
Comments on García's post combined skepticism about the electrical crisis with direct references to the controversial philosophical response that the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel offered in an interview with RT en Español last Monday.
In that interview, the ruler cited a metaphor from Fernando Birri popularized by Eduardo Galeano to answer whether Cuba can emerge from the crisis: "The utopia is on the horizon. When we take two steps forward, the utopia takes two steps back. What is the purpose of utopia? To keep walking."
That phrase became immediate satirical ammunition. Diana Fernandez bet "two utopias and ten horizons."
Alain Daniel Riveron Gonzalez stated: "Of course, I don't think that SEN and ETECSA will have erections on the 25th and 26th. Also, erectile dysfunction doesn't get cured that quickly."
For his part, Roberto Diaz summarized the regime's logic in four words: "Everything always works for the circus."
Other comments pointed to a possible manipulation of the supply based on political convenience. Susana Madrigal Aguila wrote: "They will probably provide more hours of light during times that allow for enjoying mass activities and interviews related to the anniversary, where there is so much color and 'popular enthusiasm'."
Marcia Mirtha Hernández Ramírez concluded the discussion with a certainty that few dared to challenge: "Maybe, perhaps, who knows. But the fact that SEN and ETECSA make our lives a mess all the time, that is for sure."
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