The Cuban activist Lara Crofs —whose real name is Yamilka Lafita— reported this Saturday on Facebook that funeral services in Cuba have reached a complete breaking point, where the right to a dignified burial depends on who can pay or the connections one may have.
The post arrived shortly after Crofs herself reported that her father had passed away and that she found out late due to a blackout lasting more than 40 hours and the lack of telecommunications coverage.
"I couldn't even find out in time that my father had died. In the midst of this darkness, they also rob us of something as basic as the right to receive such news when it happens," he wrote on Saturday, describing the mix of pain, helplessness, and anger that the situation caused him.
In the following post, Crofs expanded his denunciation of the system as a whole: "The funeral services in Cuba are completely overwhelmed, and even death seems to have become a privilege for those who can afford it. What little is available is caught in a macabre chain of bribes, favors, connections, and the trafficking of necessities, where a family's grief turns into a commodity and the body of a loved one becomes bargaining currency."
The activist went beyond the personal case to highlight what she considers a civilizational degradation: "We are witnessing the most brutal degradation of a society when even in the face of death, human desperation is exploited for profit. A system that turns the final farewell into a business of bribes is a society that has been stripped of the dignity to die."
Dozens of Cubans responded, confirming similar experiences. "All services are collapsing; profiting from illness and death is something abhorrent," wrote one. Another noted that "the worst destruction here is not material." A third person was more direct: "Even dying here is a horror; I experienced it two days ago with a neighbor who is almost like a brother to me." Many agreed that the problem is not new: "This has been happening for years; it's not just something that started now."
The collapse described by Crofs is documented across multiple provinces. In February 2026, a family in Holguín had to improvise a cardboard coffin due to a lack of caskets. Testimonies collected by independent media indicate that, without informal payments of thousands of pesos, the delivery of a coffin in several provinces can be significantly delayed.
In Las Tunas, state burials in the Vicente García cemetery were suspended in April due to a collapse that the authorities themselves acknowledge has been unresolved for eight years. In Santiago de Cuba, authorities removed the body of a man three days after his death in his own home.
The energy context exacerbates everything. On September 18, Cuba experienced its eighth nationwide blackout of the year, with a total disconnection of the National Electro-Energetic System that left more than nine million people without electricity for about 32 hours and caused the collapse of over 80% of the telecommunications radio bases.
It was in that context of darkness and lack of communication that Crofs learned, with hours of delay, of his father's death.
The regime has attempted to alleviate the crisis with specific measures —the introduction of electric vehicles in Havana and the importation of hearses from China— but reports agree that these actions are insufficient in the face of a structural deterioration that has been building for years without a real response.
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