A Cuban woman, known on TikTok as @gelylaflaki, recorded a video from her home on Wednesday, sharing her distress after enduring 27 consecutive hours without electricity or water. Her face was drenched in sweat as she explained how her backup devices had run out of power.
"Twenty-seven hours without electricity and water, look at how shiny my face is from the heat, because on top of everything, it's incredibly hot. I'm just a mess," she exclaims at the start of the video, recorded with the last bit of charge left on her phone.
She describes how both her portable power station, an EcoFlow, and her rechargeable fan had depleted during the blackout, leaving her and her daughters with no means to combat the sweltering heat.
Struggling with Basic Necessities
The scene she depicts is stark: a defrosted ground meat serving as the only meal available that day, a direct result of the refrigerator being out of service for over a day. "This ground meat is what I'm eating today, look at it, defrosted like this, all the meat is cold but thawed," she points out.
Her frustration is exacerbated by the knowledge that other areas in her vicinity have power. "Do they even care? I'm thinking of going to block five, which has a lot of electricity," she remarks sarcastically, highlighting the unequal distribution of resources that typifies Cuba's ongoing electrical crisis.
A Cry for Relief, Not Sympathy
She clarifies that her intention in posting the video is not to elicit sympathy. "I upload these things here, you know why, not to get pity or anything, it's because I need to vent," she asserts. She even admits to having the urge to protest but is held back by the thought of her daughters: "What I want is to go out, but in the end, what will I solve? Leaving my daughters without a mother and me being locked up, I won't solve anything."
Her video description summarizes the situation succinctly: "We're living in a very hot hell."
The Broader Crisis
@gelylaflaki's testimony comes amid an unrelenting electrical crisis in Cuba. On Thursday, the Unión Eléctrica reported an availability of merely 950 MW against a demand of 2,570 MW, with a projected shortfall of 2,080 MW during peak hours. Of this deficit, 1,203 MW are directly attributed to fuel shortages.
The numbers on the ground are equally concerning. In Matanzas, some areas experienced outages lasting up to 85 hours between June 14 and 17; in Havana, blackouts exceed 20 hours daily; and in Santiago de Cuba, some regions receive just one or two hours of power a day. The intense heat worsens everything: Pinar del Río saw a local record of 37.6 °C in La Palma for June.
The mental health impact on the population is well-documented. A study published in May 2026 in the journal Social Science & Medicine, based on surveys of 415 Cuban adults between July and November 2025, found that 55.4% suffer from extremely severe depression, 66% from severe anxiety, and 65.8% from extreme stress.
Viral testimonies from Cuban women using social media as an outlet have surged in recent weeks, from mothers losing pediatric medications due to outages to families discarding thawed food. @gelylaflaki sums it up in her own words: "Social media is what's helping me."
Understanding Cuba's Energy Crisis
What is causing the electricity shortages in Cuba?
The electricity shortages in Cuba are primarily due to a lack of fuel, which contributes to significant energy deficits during peak demand times.
How are Cuban citizens coping with the power outages?
Many Cubans are using social media to express their frustration and seek community support, while others are trying to make do with limited resources like portable power stations.
What impact do the power outages have on daily life in Cuba?
The outages affect everything from food preservation to mental health, with many experiencing heightened stress, anxiety, and depression due to the constant disruptions.