"Thank God it's raining": In Cuba, there are places that do not have water even to drink

The Cuban content creator Karina Elizabeth Sánchez Rodríguez, known on Instagram as @kary_y_jony, posted a video showing her family in Cuba collecting rainwater with buckets and makeshift containers, as they have been without access to water supply for days, not even for drinking.

"What my family in Cuba is experiencing, like the rest of the Cubans, is desperate. They have been days without water, not even for drinking. Thank God it is raining," wrote Karina alongside the reel, which gathered hundreds of reactions of sadness and solidarity.

The video shows how two people improvised a system using plastic containers and metal channels to collect rainwater and direct it to the house's cistern.

The comments from their followers reflect a mixture of pain and resignation. "How sad that we have to invent things, we Cubans," wrote one user. Another person left words of encouragement: "God will provide."

The water crisis in Cuba: a structural collapse

The Cuban regime reported in May 2026 that 2.7 million people do not have regular access to drinking water in the country, and nearly 10 million receive the service intermittently.

In Havana, the situation has deteriorated rapidly. Those affected increased from 200,000 in April to over 500,000 in July 2026.

87% of Cuban aqueducts depend on the National Electric System, which means that every blackout —which in 2026 lasts between 12 to 20 hours daily in many areas— stops the pumps and cuts off the water supply.

In the absence of state solutions, Cubans have developed an informal water economy. A water truck can cost between 18,000 and 50,000 Cuban pesos on the black market in Havana, an amount that is unattainable for most. Those who cannot afford it resort to homemade rainwater collection systems, makeshift wells, or community cisterns.

Recently, two girls of approximately seven years old were seen carrying gallons of water alone from the cistern of a primary school in Havana, and another Cuban reported nine consecutive months without receiving water in her neighborhood.