Andy Vázquez, a popular comedian better known as Facundo from "Vivir del Cuento", used Mother's Day as an opportunity to call for greater respect for Cuban women, referencing the country's fraught situation with power outages which, miraculously, showed improvement on this particular Sunday.
"They say there is power throughout Cuba. I hope it is true out of respect for those women who suffer so much. God bless them," the comedian posted on Facebook, highlighting the regime's convenient timing of a slight decrease in the electrical generation deficit on this day. Facebook Capture / Facundo Vivir del Cuento
"So what? Do they or do they not have power? It happens when it suits them," the popular actor reflected among the comments of his post, accusing the Cuban government of manipulating the deficit to suit its own interests, particularly noting that Mother's Day is a significant day for families.
Despite official claims of uninterrupted service, several social media users reported ongoing blackouts, to which the humorist responded, "They lied, they said they wouldn’t cut it off."
For Mother's Day 2024, the Electric Union predicted a peak hour impact of 660 MW. The day before, the service was disrupted due to a generation capacity deficit for 24 hours, not restored until 4:04 AM today. The maximum impact reached 933 MW at 8:30 AM, exceeding the predictions for Sunday. As a prelude to this convenient reduction in outages, Cubans had returned to the streets in protest, with reports of demonstrations early Saturday morning in the province of Camagüey.
After nearly 20 hours without electricity, residents of the area initiated a pot-banging protest, reported by La Hora de Cuba. A witness recounted hearing the chant, "Power and food!", as citizens banged pots and pans. A similar scenario unfolded in Las Tunas, where residents protested with pots and pans on the night of Friday, May 10, following intensified residential sector blackouts across the island, some lasting up to 18 hours.
The Facebook page "Justice 11J" reported the protest, including a video showing people clanging their pots. Meanwhile, news websites and leaders of the Caribbean country spread positive messages, dissociated from the grim reality faced by the people amid economic and energy crises.
A mother, Midaisy Marrero Gil from Cienfuegos, exploded on social media over the continuous blackouts. "We have had many sleepless nights. These blackouts returned, they are here, they don’t go away... and all I hear on social media is 'How much longer?'" she exclaimed in a distressing Facebook live stream, where she also showed her children sleeping outside to escape the heat.
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