The Cuban comedian Ulises Toirac turned to his usual irony this Sunday to depict the situation in Cuba on National Rebellion Day: a blackout that occurred the evening before and on July 26, the date when the regime celebrated the 73rd anniversary of the assault on the Moncada Barracks.
In a post on his Facebook profile, Toirac wrote: "Nice blackout since the eve in celebration of the 26. On a side note, there's still a frustrating phase with the transformer, which we hope won't ruin the fireworks for the celebration, because it would be a disaster added to the already unstable situation. Anyway... happier than a widow without an inheritance. Indeed, it’s always the 26."
The final phrase — "it's always the 26th" — subverts the festive meaning of the most symbolic date in the Cuban political calendar, turning it into a metaphor for the country's ongoing collapse.
While the official anniversary event was taking place in Pinar del Río, presided over by Miguel Díaz-Canel, a large part of the island remained in darkness.
The irony of Toirac lies precisely in that contradiction: the regime commemorates its founding achievement while the system it administers is crumbling.
The message arrives in an energy context of extreme severity. Cuba approaches July 26 amid widespread blackouts: on Saturday, electricity demand was 3,200 MW against a mere availability of 1,070 MW, with 106 distributed generation plants out of service due to lack of fuel.
In the early hours of this Sunday, the thermoelectric plant Antonio Guiteras —the largest in the country— went offline from the National Electric System at 1:07 a.m. due to an issue with the economizer, accumulating at least 17 unplanned outages so far in 2026.
July has been a devastating month for the Cuban electrical system. The SEN experienced at least three total collapses —on the 6th, 10th, and 14th of July— leaving millions of people without electricity during each incident.
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