The young man from Tunera who survived a 33,000-volt electric shock while serving in Mandatory Military Service received a new house this Thursday in the Palancón neighborhood of Las Tunas, thanks to a popular solidarity campaign organized by the activist Norge Ernesto Díaz Blak, known as Noly Blak, whose video of the delivery has already surpassed 85,400 views on Facebook.
Miguel Ángel, 20 years old, suffered the accident on November 24, 2024, when, on duty at a military post in Havana without access to water, he attempted to knock down a coconut with a stick that came into contact with a high-voltage line.
The shock caused him severe injuries to his arms, legs, abdomen, and back, keeping him in intensive care at the Naval Hospital in Havana for a year and three months, during which he underwent a tracheotomy.
Upon being discharged from the hospital on January 10, 2026, the young man returned to Las Tunas without having received any compensation from the Cuban government. He lived with his mother in Palancón, one of the most vulnerable areas of the province, in conditions of extreme hardship: his mother stated that she could only offer him "plain spaghetti with salt and oil."
It was Noly Blak who revealed the case of the young man electrocuted during Military Service in a video that surpassed a million views on Facebook, triggering a wave of donations from Cuba and abroad.
The campaign mobilized Cubans inside and outside the island who helped the young man: "Historian Santa Maria," a Cuban in the diaspora, sent money and asked his father to buy a blender, a stove, and food; the Courageous Heart Project also joined the effort; and a follower from Guatemala identified as Manuela contributed 50 dollars.
The accumulated donations made it possible not only to provide the housing but also to equip all the rooms with air conditioning and purchase the necessary appliances, including a refrigerator bought by Idalmi, the young man's mother-in-law.
During the delivery, Noly Blak informed the young man, "You have one million pesos on the card, okay?" and noted that there were over 300,000 pesos remaining from the donations received.
Miguel Ángel's mother publicly thanked all the collaborators: "Thanks to you, my son is going to have a very, very happy and very peaceful life. Thank you so much to everyone, to all the wonderful people who helped me."
The case falls within a documented pattern of state abandonment towards Cuban recruits. According to a report from the Cuban Citizen Audit Observatory published on July 20, at least 97 young people died or went missing during Military Service between 2001 and the spring of 2026, with an average age of 18.7 years. Accidents account for 22.7% of the documented cases.
Noly Blak, who has coordinated multiple similar campaigns in recent months, concluded the delivery video with a reflection: "Every time I see these cases, it hurts me. It's a pity that all Cubans have become trees. No matter how dry we are, we still scent the wounds that do not heal."
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