A Cuban known on social media as El Quijote Bayamés published a video on Facebook this Saturday that starkly summarizes the exhaustion experienced by much of the population on the island: persistent blackouts, rising prices every day, and oppressive heat without electricity to combat it.
Juan Luis Vasallo Palomo, the author of the clip recorded in Bayamo, the capital of Granma province, described his situation with a phrase that resonated with thousands of Cubans: "Between the blackouts, the prices of products, and this immense heat, my head spins, and even the desire to live diminishes. What wrong have we Cubans done to deserve this ordeal we are suffering?"
In the video, Vasallo Palomo recounts that he went out at noon to see what to eat and found that the price of pork had risen from 1,300 to 1,400 pesos per pound in just one day at one point in the market, while at another it was being offered for 3,800 pesos. "What are we going to do, ma'am? Where are we going to end up?" he asks in front of the camera, sweaty and clearly distressed. The clip closes with a confession: "I'm here in this tremendous heat. Not knowing what to do or where to go, I don't know."
The prices described are no exception. In August 2026, pork is priced between 850 and 1,900 pesos per pound depending on the area and point of sale, and a butcher's board documented this past Saturday confirmed 1,400 pesos as the reference price in various markets.
The contrast with income is striking. The minimum wage in Cuba is 3,210 pesos per month, while meeting the basic needs of a person requires approximately 96,060 pesos per month, according to independent estimates. The official year-on-year inflation reached 20.70% in July 2026, with food accounting for nearly two-thirds of the monthly increase in the price index.
Bayamo is also one of the cities most affected by power outages in eastern Cuba. Granma recorded a provincial electrical deficit of 110 MW in mid-August, with outages exceeding 20 hours daily. Nationally, Cuba has experienced at least seven total collapses of the electrical system so far in 2026, with maximum impacts of up to 2,411 MW recorded on August 11.
The video by Vasallo Palomo generated dozens of comments reflecting the same despair. One of the most shared, signed by Juan López Sánchez, pointed directly to the inequality between rulers and the ruled: "We must resist with bread or without bread, but the administration has meat, fish, cheese, eggs, wine, rum, whiskey, gasoline, cars, electricity, and we have to resist."
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