The Isle of Youth has now accumulated more than five days without mobile services, with landline service restricted to local calls, while ETECSA merely promises that it will continue "taking the necessary actions to reconnect this territory to the network," according to information released by the state agency ACN.
The outage was reported on September 8, when damage to the two main connection routes of the special municipality with the national network left the territory practically cut off.
Five days later, the regime's telecommunications company has not provided any estimated date for restoration—not even an approximate one—and its only consolation for the tens of thousands of island residents is that, thanks to a limited-use emergency satellite link, they can at least receive the signal for state radio and television.
According to ACN this Saturday, ETECSA explained that, although it has already pinpointed the exact location of the interruption in the submarine cable, “the weather conditions have complicated the repair efforts of the damaged section of cable, which involves bringing it to the surface and making the fiber splice with great precision.”
The company warned that the process "is complex due to maritime links, which require special technical conditions," and noted that specialists from various institutions are involved alongside their own technicians in the Pinar del Río area.
While experts grapple with the weather and the seabed, Cuban families abroad have been on the brink of emotional collapse for days. A woman identified as Geida Ponciano summed up the drama in a video that circulated on social media: "Those of us on this side are suffering. We can't talk to our family members. In my case, it’s my mother. It's my mother, please."
In the comments on social media, the voices of desperation multiplied. One user confessed, "I can't take this anymore, not knowing about my loved ones, whether they have food or water; this is very hard for those of us who are far away." Some pointed out that those who appeared to be online from the Island were actually outside the territory, which would explain the complete silence from within.
Communication does not fall from the sky. The Isle of Youth is facing a power crisis that worsened throughout 2026: blackouts increased from four hours daily in February to 18 hours in May and even more than 20 hours in July. On August 18, the area was left virtually without electricity, with power reserved only for the hospital and water pumping.
The current outage of telephone services is not an isolated incident. At the beginning of August, the breakdown of a generator caused a nationwide interruption of mobile phone services. On September 2nd, failures in the SMS system disrupted Transfermóvil.
For now, the official response remains the same: patience, technicians at sea, and the promise that "we will continue to take the necessary actions," without a date, deadline, or explanations.
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