The prominent audiovisual director Orlando Cruzata, creator and director of the musical program Lucas, publicly denounced Cubavisión's lack of interest regarding the Nomination Gala for the Premios Lucas 2026, whose broadcast was postponed by the state channel after his team worked all night to prepare it.
In a Facebook post titled "Halloween" and under her usual heading "THAT'S WHY THEY CAN'T STAND ME," Cruzata recounted that the energy crisis forced her team to move the gala's edition to the facilities of Televisión Cubana, where power outages are less noticeable thanks to their own power plant.
"In light of the energy emergency situation, that is, a complete blackout. We had to implement a Plan B to fulfill our commitment to broadcast the Lucas Awards 2026 Nominees Gala on Saturday," the director wrote.
On Thursday, October 29, the team began the final editing of a gala that originally lasted two hours, which needed to be reduced to one hour for its broadcast on Cubavisión. They worked throughout the night and into the following morning to meet the goal. By Friday, October 30, at four in the afternoon, the one-hour version was completed. "It was tough, but it was ready," Cruzata noted.
However, Cubavisión's response regarding the gala of the most important television showcase for national music videos was disappointing: "We were informed that the airing of the Gala was postponed because, among other reasons, there was no one available to review it at that time."
The director did not hide his outrage, describing the channel's attitude as "almost a declaration of war," lamenting the effort invested by everyone who collaborated on the project.
Cruzata took advantage of the complaint to draw a broader diagnosis about the decline of state television: "Our Cuban Television went from being a major league team, where we dedicated ourselves to getting programs on air, just as agreed, to becoming a municipal league team, where in many cases the agreement or the understanding is irrelevant as long as it is not a politically or informationally driven program, of course."
The incident is not isolated. In February 2023, Cruzata was excluded from the annual balance meeting of musical programs of Televisión Cubana, which he regularly attended. In April 2025, however, the director himself admitted in an interview that he would not allow anyone on his program to "speak negatively about the revolution," and described this censorship as "part of our cultural policy."
The energy context surrounding the entire process further aggravates the situation. On Thursday, October 29, the Electric Union projected a maximum demand period availability of only 910 MW, with a maximum demand of 2820 MW, resulting in a deficit of 1910 MW. Cuba has experienced, so far in 2026, eight national power grid collapses.
The 29th edition of the Lucas Awards, under the theme "1 for 30", received 342 music videos, out of which the jury preselected 251 works in 31 categories, including two new additions: Best Video with Artificial Intelligence and Makeup and Hairdressing. The most nominated music video is "Aset" by Ibeyi, with seven nominations, while director Felo leads the individual tally with 17 nominations spread across six works.
Despite the setback, Cruzata announced that the team is already looking ahead: "We are now focusing on the Lucas Award Galas, on the 20th and 21st of November, at Cine Yara."
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