Residents of the La Zambrana neighborhood in Camagüey have been living with a deadly danger for over 24 hours: live electrical wires lying on the ground, following the passage of a truck that knocked down a pole on Van Horne Avenue, between 5th and 6th streets, on Friday morning.
The report was shared on Facebook by independent journalist José L. Tan Estrada, whose video garnered over 7,200 views.
The response from the Electric Company has been nonexistent. According to those affected, they have been calling the outage number for hours without receiving more than one explanation: there are no vehicles available to go to the site.
Meanwhile, two homes remain without electricity, where elderly people reside.
Despite the efforts of those affected, the electrified cables remain on the ground, posing a serious danger to the neighbors, especially to the children who play in the area daily.
"The live wire on the floor is a danger because it has rained a lot. I'm tired of calling; there's no car to come," a resident reported.
The rains that have fallen in the last few hours significantly increase the risk. Water conducts electricity and can energize seemingly inactive surfaces—sidewalks, puddles, metal grids—turning the immediate environment into an invisible trap.
In recent months, trucks have knocked down poles and cables in several provinces of Cuba with little prompt response from the authorities: last July, a truck crashed into a substation in Cienfuegos, leaving over 9,000 customers without service, and in October 2025, another vehicle struck a pole in Ranchuelo, Villa Clara, affecting more than 10,000 people.
The lack of vehicles at the Electric Company to respond to emergencies is a documented problem throughout the Island. In May of this year, during a fire linked to a power cut and reconnection, neither the firefighters nor the electric company responded to the neighbors' call.
In Camagüey, entire neighborhoods have reported up to 20 consecutive days without electricity due to faulty transformers and a shortage of spare parts, and the thermoelectric plant in Nuevitas was the epicenter of a collapse of the National Electroenergetic System in July. Cuba has experienced eight total national blackouts so far this year, the most recent on September 18.
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