The town of Cantel, in the municipality of Cárdenas, Matanzas, has experienced 109 consecutive days without electricity, a situation that its own residents describe as a complete abandonment by the Cuban authorities.
The report was published by the communicator Christian Arbolaez on his Facebook profile, accompanied by a photograph showing the town's electrical cables completely covered in vines.
"Cantel, in Cárdenas, Matanzas, will be one of the first communities to revert to primitive times. And I don't say this to exaggerate. Look at the photographs: the electric wires are already covered in vines," wrote Arbolaez.
A blackout that started in July with no end date in sight
A neighbor from the town confirmed in the comments of the post that the total outage began on July 10, which is consistent with the figure of 109 days.
This is not the first time that Cantel has faced a crisis like this. In May, the town had already gone more than 16 days without electrical service. Although power was restored on May 19, the supply was only intermittent for about a month and a half before the current blackout began.
About a week ago, the local outlet Telebandera announced that the issue would be resolved "soon," without providing any specific date.
The response sparked outrage among residents. “A week, a month, six months, several years? Because for a family that has been in the dark for over a hundred days, 'coming soon' is neither a date nor a solution,” Arbolaez pointed out.
The families in Cantel cook with charcoal when they can afford it and when they have food. To charge their phones and lamps, they seek help from neighboring communities and endure hot nights without fans.
The refrigerators stopped working months ago. According to Arbolaez, "Many are filled with mold and humidity, and others remain with the doors propped open to prevent further rotting inside."
Water crisis and institutional neglect
The power outage also triggered a severe water crisis, as the pumps do not operate without electricity.
A neighbor described the situation starkly: "Water is another critical issue. Most people rely on rainwater for their supply and ask their neighbors for drinking water. At this point, after 109 days, the municipality has not provided even one water truck for the town, at least one a day. It is chilling to see elderly people aged 65, 75, and 85 hauling water from a community well."
The lack of mobile phone coverage further exacerbates isolation. "Right now, an emergency occurs and they have no way to communicate because there's no coverage. It's criminal," warned another commentator.
No representative from the municipal government has come to the town to provide information or assistance, several residents explain in the comments to the post.
The case of Cantel is part of the electrical collapse affecting Cárdenas and the entire province of Matanzas. By the end of August, the province had recorded 175 thefts of dielectric oil, with over 55,950 liters stolen, 91 damaged transformers, and 43 out of the 98 provincial substations affected.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, acknowledged before the National Assembly on July 30 that some communities had experienced up to 105 consecutive days without electricity due to the inability to replace damaged specialized transformers, making the situation in Cantel one of the most extreme cases documented publicly.
"At this rate, when the transformer arrives, we will have to explain to the neighbors what electricity is," concluded Arbolaez.
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