The Cuban comedian and actor Ulises Toirac warned this Thursday that Cuba's electricity crisis has no solution as long as the current economic model persists, and he did so with a statement that encapsulates his main thesis: .
The comment, posted on his own Facebook profile, arose in response to the debate generated by reports from the Miami Herald about an alleged secret deal between the Trump administration and the Cuban regime, in which Washington would have offered oil in exchange for the privatization of CUPET —the state fuel company— and Miguel Díaz-Canel's exit from power.
Toirac neither dismissed nor endorsed the agreement, but pointed out that the proposal to privatize CUPET "should keep more than one person awake on this side," and he was direct in identifying the crux of the problem: the owner of the National Electroenergetic System (SEN) —"our brave people," he wrote ironically— cannot afford to pay for fuel at market prices because electricity is charged at subsidized rates in pesos to the residential sector and to a large part of the state sector.
"The problem is quite simple: how does the owner of the thermoelectric plants acquire the fuel for the operation of the plants? Because keep in mind: this operation that supplies electricity charges for its service at... prices that are still subsidized to this day," he wrote.
The actor also dismissed the possibility of the SEN being handed over to private hands: "A country's electricity belongs to the country. It's too strategic to be left at the mercy of others," he argued, citing Canada as an example of how it keeps several U.S. states in a position of energy dependency.
The full post garnered over 1,218 reactions and 230 comments, with responses ranging from agreement to dark humor. One user, Tony Ex-Flaco, joked, "Maybe they'll privatize it in the pincers of some crustacean..."
The diagnosis of Toirac is not new, but it is increasingly emphatic. In July, he attributed the energy collapse to "six decades of poor economic decisions", mentioning the closure of sugar mills, the failed bet on the Juraguá nuclear plant, the use of heavy national crude oil, and the neglect of maintenance.
Days later, he declared that he no longer sees "the light at the end of the tunnel" because "there is no tunnel".
At the beginning of September, he called the blackouts a "crime" due to their human impact, denouncing that his circuit in Havana had been without electricity for days, with restorations lasting less than twenty minutes. On August 30, he compared them to a form of "torture" because of the psychological damage they cause.
The context surrounding his words is one of sustained collapse. This Thursday, the SEN operated with just 1,220 MW available against a forecasted demand of 3,350 MW, a deficit of over 2,100 MW.
At the beginning of the month, nine out of the 16 thermoelectric units were out of service and power outages were simultaneously affecting 64% of the island. So far in 2026, Cuba has experienced at least six total blackouts of the national electric system.
Toirac concluded his publication with a biblical phrase that encapsulates his skepticism toward any announced solution: “Although, as the Bible says: ‘they will be seen...’”
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