A foreign traveler who spent nearly a month traveling through Cuba claimed to have left the country with a devastating impression of the crisis facing Cubans: daily power outages, hunger, garbage, and buildings on the brink of collapse.
"I truly feel that Cuba has no hope. Every day more people go hungry, more houses collapse. It's the cold truth.", stated the content creator known on Instagram as @broba222, who shared his thoughts after the experience.
The traveler recognized that he arrived on the island as a visitor, but it took only a few hours to encounter a reality that was very different from the country's tourist image.
According to the report, the impact was immediate.
"The first day I arrived, there was no electricity, but that quickly became the daily norm," he explained.
What initially surprised him eventually became part of the everyday landscape in the following weeks: blackouts, deteriorating buildings at risk of collapse, and large amounts of garbage piling up in the streets.
But there was something that he found particularly difficult to understand: the ability of many Cubans to carry on with their lives amidst such conditions.
"People here have an incredible energy. Even though many are suffering, they continue to walk with a smile and find joy in the little things," he noted.
The attitude of the Cubans, however, did not lessen the severity of what he claimed to have witnessed.
"It saddens me to think that millions of these wonderful people are suffering every day," he added.
After nearly a month in the country, the traveler summed up his experience with a reflection that highlights a fundamental difference between his situation and that of those who live permanently on the island.
"I just spent a month in Cuba. It's actually worse than you can imagine. I have the privilege of leaving the country, but millions are trapped," he wrote in the post's description.
His testimony reflects, from the perspective of a foreign visitor, issues that are part of the daily life of Cubans and that have worsened during 2026.
The energy crisis continues to be one of the main factors deteriorating living conditions. The National Electric System has experienced repeated collapses, while significant generation deficits have led to widespread power outages across much of the country.
Power outages are compounded by an increasingly precarious food situation. Data from the Food Monitor Program indicate that 33.9% of Cuban households reported that at least one member had gone to bed hungry at least once in the past 30 days, an increase of 9.3 percentage points compared to 2024. The report also noted that 96.91% of the population lacked adequate access to food.
The deterioration of homes is part of the scenario described by the traveler. In Havana, around 1,000 buildings collapse each year, while the housing deficit in the country exceeds 929,000 homes.
A Cuban architect recently summed up the deterioration of the capital with a powerful image: "a bombed city."
The video from @broba222 sparked a wide reaction on Instagram, surpassing 40,000 "likes" and 2,300 comments. Among the responses, there were numerous messages from Cubans both on and off the island thanking the foreigner for showcasing the reality he encountered during his travels without turning poverty into a tourist attraction.
"Thank you for sharing this very real video. Many families have endured this their entire lives, day by day," wrote a user.
Other Cubans took advantage of the publication to directly point to the regime as responsible for the situation described by the traveler.
"Cuba has been ruined by the communist regime that has been in power for over 60 years," commented a user in a message that received more than 160 reactions.
Another user asked the creator to also explain the causes when discussing the conditions on the island: "He always makes it clear that it is the communist dictatorship that is responsible," he wrote.
@broba222 has been documenting his journey through Cuba on YouTube for months. Since January 2026, he has published videos with titles such as "My First Day in Cuba Shocked Me," "The People Trapped Inside Cuba," and "The Dark Reality of Cuba in 2026."
After weeks traveling across the country, his conclusion turned out to be far from the typical tourist postcard of beaches, vintage cars, and colorful streets. His experience was defined by blackouts, the decay of cities, and the struggles of a population that, unlike him, cannot simply take a plane when the journey is over.
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