Power Outages Force Cienfuegos Civil Registry to Handwrite Documents, Complicating Legal Procedures

In Cienfuegos, frequent power outages have compelled the Civil Registry to revert to handwriting documents, exacerbating delays in obtaining certifications, especially when combined with pre-legalization procedures. This situation significantly impacts the vast number of people who visit daily to request documents essential for emigration or Spanish citizenship applications amid Cuba's escalating migration pressure.

According to reports from the local channel Perlavisión, the lack of electricity has disrupted the digital operations of the civil registry. As a result, physical forms are once again in use for issuing birth, marriage, and death certifications. However, without a QR code, these documents require an additional pre-legalization step at the Provincial Directorate of Justice, where the authenticity of the handwritten forms is verified.

This extra step, previously unnecessary for digital documents, adds further bureaucratic delays to an already congested system, increasing the stress for those urgently needing these papers for legal processes abroad. Despite the challenging conditions, authorities claim that the Civil Registry staff continues to work tirelessly and that handwritten documents remain valid outside Cuba.

Nevertheless, the combination of power outages, manual procedures, and additional steps is creating bottlenecks in one of the province's most in-demand services. A similar situation is reported in Las Tunas, where the official media outlet Periódico 26 highlighted disruptions in the local Civil Registry's operations due to power cuts and connectivity issues.

In Las Tunas, Daylenis de la Caridad Romero Sánchez, the chief registrar, stated that the office continues to provide essential services such as birth, marriage, and death certifications, as well as declarations of intent, paternal recognition, and procedures related to the mobile platform Bienestar. However, she acknowledged that due to technological failures, they must resort to printed or handwritten forms when data is unavailable in the system.

"We have printed models issued when the certification is not in the system, but sometimes we are unable to contact other Cuban registries, forcing us to handwrite them," explained Romero Sánchez, noting that staff have extended their hours to meet demand.

Although these handwritten certifications are accepted by embassies, if legalization is required, it can only be processed within the province where they were issued, adding another layer of bureaucracy. The mandatory use of handwritten documents due to power outages, coupled with systemic and office disconnections, further extends wait times in an already overloaded network.

The situation in Las Tunas reflects a nationwide issue directly impacting thousands of Cubans who need documentation for emigration, foreign procedures, or legal status regularization amid the current crisis. The Civil Registry offices in Cuba are experiencing a systemic crisis that spans several provinces, highlighting the institutional decay and operational precariousness affecting countless citizens.

In Santiago de Cuba, the system has nearly collapsed, limiting service to only five appointments daily and forcing those seeking certifications to queue from dawn or pay informal services to secure a spot. A similar reality exists in Matanzas, where appointments at the Civil Registry have reportedly been sold for up to 700 Cuban pesos, evidence of a bureaucracy as saturated as it is susceptible to corrupt practices.

The inability to handle the high demand has led to a black market for appointments, taking advantage of the desperation of those needing urgent documentation for migratory or legal matters. In Havana, the problems are no less severe. A citizen reported the disappearance of several death certificates submitted to the Civil Registry for legalization, without receiving any response or resolution from the authorities. Another case in Havana saw a citizen waiting over three months for a birth certificate requested from the Civil Registry, with no clear solution offered by the office.