Carlos Alfonso, founder and director of the group Síntesis, and Ele Valdés, singer and keyboardist of the group since 1976, described the Cuban electrical crisis as a "mass psychological torture" in a Facebook post that triggered a deluge of responses from Cubans weary of the blackouts.
"The closest thing to mass psychological torture is the situation of having electricity available when they want and without prior notice. It’s incredible that they ask for resistance to this torturous situation!" wrote Carlos Alfonso, 76, and Ele Valdés, 74, in a direct critique of the official narrative that demands Cubans endure the crisis.
It is not the first time that both have raised their voices against blackouts and poverty in Cuba. In October, the couple had already publicly denounced suffering three outages in one day, describing the situation as "inhumane" and noting that total darkness "steals their desire."
The new statement comes at the worst moment of the Cuban energy crisis.
This Wednesday, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero acknowledged before the National Assembly that prolonged blackouts remain "the main problem" of the country, although weeks earlier he had attributed the system failures to the U.S. embargo and urged the population to endure with the rallying cry, "we are going to fight and we are going to win."
The comments on the post reflected the desperation of those who live that reality every day.
"I have been without electricity and water for over 30 hours. From my home, I can see parts of Havana that are not hospitals with electricity," wrote a user.
Another described the usual routine: "20 or 24 hours without electricity for just two or three of service; that is if you're lucky enough that a transformer doesn’t fail, because then it can be three days or more."
The outrage at the official call to "resist" was unanimous. "Resistance for us; for them, light and a good life!" replied one commentator, while a third summed up the collective exhaustion: "They render us incapable of a meaningful life, always desperately waiting for a glimmer of hope that might or might not happen, whenever they decide."
One comment pointed directly to the pessimism generated by the government's own statements: "It's too much, and Marrero says the worst is yet to come."
"It's criminal what they are doing to the people," declared one of the commentators, in a statement that encapsulated the feelings of hundreds of Cubans who responded to the post.
Synthesis, founded in Havana in 1976, is one of the most emblematic groups of Cuban music. The ensemble blends Afro-Cuban roots and Yoruba chants with rock, jazz, and symphonic music.
In 2022, won the Latin Grammy for Best Folk Album for "Ancestros Sinfónico," along with X Alfonso and Eme Alfonso, children of Carlos Alfonso and Ele Valdés.
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