A Cuban identified as Jose Alberto posted a video on Facebook this week that starkly highlights the contradiction between the official discourse of the regime and the daily lives of millions of people in Cuba: he went out with a wheelbarrow to fetch water and had to return home without a drop because the power outages had interrupted the pumping.
"Look at the effort it takes to fetch water. On top of that, I couldn’t get any water because, without electricity, there’s no pressure and it’s just finished. I had to go home without water and figure out what to do now," the man in the video recounted.
The testimony points directly to official propaganda. In the streets, workplaces, and public spaces of Cuba, signs emblazoned with the slogan "Down with the blockade" are plentiful, but Jose Alberto questions it bluntly: "What blockade? Which blockade are they referring to? The ones who have us blocked are themselves."
His conclusion is unequivocal: "The greatest blockade we feel is living without water, without electricity, and without basic conditions, while those in power look for excuses instead of solutions."
According to official data released in May, approximately 2.7 million people lack regular access to potable water and nearly 10 million receive it intermittently, noted a report by the newspaper Los Angeles Times.
The link between water shortages and the energy crisis is structural: around 87% of the Cuban aqueduct system depends on the electrical grid for pumping, so each blackout automatically interrupts the supply of water.
In Havana, more than 500,000 people were suffering from the water crisis until last July, a figure that had more than doubled from the 200,000 affected recorded in April.
The electricity situation described by Jose Alberto —with blackouts lasting 20 hours or more consecutively— aligns with the data from the national system.
On July 8, the electricity deficit reached a historic record of 2,341 MW, with available generation of only 1,000 MW against a demand of 3,100 MW. That month, in Matanzas, electricity outages of up to 87 consecutive hours were documented, while the National Electroenergy System (SEN) has recorded at least six total collapses so far in 2026.
In light of this critical scenario, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez have publicly attributed the blackouts to the U.S. embargo. However, independent analyses indicate that the dominant causes are internal: outdated infrastructure, decades of neglect, and a lack of investment in thermoelectric plants, exacerbated by the cessation of fuel supplies from Venezuela and Mexico.
Meanwhile, the population is adapting as best as they can to the lack of water. In Camagüey, neighbors are moving with carts and jugs to alternative sources, and in Matanzas, cargo tricycles and converted baby strollers are transporting containers with water.
In August, the case of seven-year-old girls carrying gallons of water alone in Havana was reported, and a Cuban woman reported going nine months without receiving water in her neighborhood.
Jose Alberto's video reflects the growing frustration on the Island, which has already been expressed in street protests in various neighborhoods of Havana during this summer season.
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