Cubana issues an SOS for San Miguel de los Baños and reports over a month without electricity or communications

Amanda FernándezPhoto © Facebook / Amanda Fernández

A Cuban originally from San Miguel de los Baños, in the municipality of Jovellanos, Matanzas province, reported that the town has been without electricity or any form of communication for over a month and warned of a serious health situation that, according to her testimony, even obstructs efforts to request emergency services.

The complaint was made public by Amanda Fernández, a Cuban content creator from the area, in a SOS video posted on Facebook that garnered more than 5,400 views.

"This video is very sad and regrettable. My goal is for people, as far as my reach extends, to know about the vulnerable situation that a part of the Cuban population is facing at this moment," she stated at the beginning of the reel.

According to their testimony, the town has been "without electricity for over a month, not even for an hour, and without communication," with no signal on mobile phones or landlines. The most serious consequence of this lack of communication is in the area of health.

"The medical outposts currently have no communication with the outside world or with any emergency services. In case an ambulance is needed, they have no means to request one," warned Fernández.

According to the complainant, the town is also suffering from an epidemic.

«San Miguel de los Baños is experiencing an arboviral outbreak that is literally killing people, and they don't even have a way to communicate to request medical help,» he reported. According to his testimony, 95% of the population is sick, a figure that CiberCuba has not been able to independently verify.

"The government doesn't respond to them, they feel abandoned, they are left without support, they aren't given a solution, hope, or anything at all, absolutely nothing," said the young woman.

Several users who commented on the video claimed to have relatives or connections to the area and described situations similar to what Fernández recounted. One user wrote: "My uncle has kidney failure and now has the virus. We don't know if he is alive or dead because of the communism we have."

Another internet user noted that when ambulances are called, they respond that "they have no fuel to go pick up patients." A third comment summarized the situation as follows: "What they are doing to San Miguel de los Baños is unfair and inhumane; it was once the paradise of Cuba. Today, it is hell."

Blackouts put telecommunications in a tight spot throughout Cuba: ETECSA has acknowledged that its infrastructure cannot withstand more than 24 hours without power supply, and that outages leave approximately 47.5% of the country's mobile radio bases out of service.

In June, Matanzas recorded outages of up to 85 consecutive hours in some circuits. This province has been one of the hardest hit by the energy crisis in 2026. The San Miguel de los Baños substation had already been listed among the damaged ones in May.

The report concerning the health situation in San Miguel de los Baños comes in the context of a high incidence of arboviral diseases in Cuba, which has recorded more than 7,133 cases of dengue in 2026, a figure 7.4 times higher than expected, with Matanzas being one of the main hotspots alongside Guantánamo and Villa Clara.

San Miguel de los Baños was once a renowned thermal spa, with its Grand Hotel inaugurated in 1930. Declared a National Monument in 2001, the spa remains in ruins without any effective restoration having taken place.

Filed under:

CiberCuba Editorial Team

A team of journalists committed to reporting on Cuban current affairs and topics of global interest. At CiberCuba, we work to deliver truthful news and critical analysis.