The Cuban activist Yamilka Lafita, known on social media as Lara Crofs, described this Sunday the situation faced by her neighborhood in Havana after more than 20 hours of continuous blackout: a device from the electrical transformer, popularly known as "caballito," exploded and caught fire, leaving her entire block in the dark.
In a Facebook post, Lafita recounted: "After more than 20 hours without electricity, we heard an explosion and a huge short circuit, followed by the little horse completely engulfed in flames. The entire block was in darkness, along with the despair and stress of knowing that it would take God knows how long to resolve the problem. Surviving in Cuba every passing second is extreme torture."
Alongside the text, the activist published a nighttime photograph showing the post with the transformer on fire: an electric arc of intense orange-yellow illuminates the sky with reddish tones as the wires cross through the darkness in multiple directions.
Damaged transformers are a severe problem amid the crisis facing the National Electric System, which has already experienced seven collapses in 2026. In Havana, an average of 25 transformers break down daily, with peaks of over 60 in a single day, according to data from July 2026, caused by overload when consumers reconnect devices after prolonged blackouts.
The comments under Lafita's post show that the drama is repeating across the island. A Cuban reported from Santa Clara: "I am in the same situation here with a power outage; I hope they can restore the service soon." Another recalled that the Berenguer neighborhood in Boyeros municipality waited five days for a transformer to be connected. A third person summed up the collective fatigue: "It's unbelievable; it's the sword of Damocles we all face—the transformer could explode, and the frequent outages are the least of our worries."
On August 4, 2026, Cuba reached another unfortunate record in its energy crisis by recording an impact of 2,411 megawatts (MW) due to a generation capacity deficit.
Yamilka Lafita not only suffers from the energy crisis: she is also one of the activists harassed by the regime. She was detained on April 18, 2026 in Havana by State Security agents, just hours after documenting the presence of two individuals monitoring her house. After being released, she reported that the regime was trying to fabricate a crime against her.
In August 2025, she suffered a grade 2 sprain in her right foot when she was violently arrested by the National Revolutionary Police. And in February of that same year, agents detained her while she was distributing food to people experiencing homelessness, confiscating more than 200 thermal packages and 20 liters of gasoline, assets valued at 70,000 Cuban pesos — about 140 dollars.
Days before the incident with the transformer, Lafita had shared new photos of the girl Amanda Lemus Ortiz, the young Cuban who underwent a liver transplant in Spain, along with a message to the Ministry of Public Health: “Do you know that beauty who is waiting for the metro and playing in a ball pit? Share her so that the Ministry of Public Health of Cuba sees that it was indeed possible to save her.” Cuba lacks an active pediatric liver transplant program; in June 2026, a ten-month-old baby died who needed that procedure and could not receive it on the island.
While Lafita waited this Sunday without electricity and with a transformer ablaze in front of her house, another Cuban summed up the feelings of many under her post: "Every day I feel more desire to leave. There is no future."
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