Maria Acuña Cruz, a Cuban mother, recently took to Facebook to share a heartrending account of her 1-year-old son who is forced to sleep outside their home. The unbearable heat inside, caused by constant power outages, leaves them with little choice.
"I feel ashamed to post this, but we can't endure this any longer," Maria wrote, alongside photos of her son lying face down in just a diaper on a foldable cot placed on what appears to be a cement porch.
The situation she describes is nothing short of a humanitarian crisis, layered with challenges: without electricity for cooling, her child becomes prey to the mosquitoes thriving in streets she describes as "overflowing with garbage and filth."
Compounding these issues, her baby is battling a diarrhea virus, and there isn't enough water available to clean or bathe him as frequently as needed.
Maria Acuña Cruz concluded her post with a direct question to President Miguel Díaz-Canel: "Do you ever think about the Cuban people in your care, the children, the elderly, the parents struggling to put food on the table?"
Her account joins a growing wave of similar reports by Cuban mothers on social media since May 2026. On July 10, another mother, Dayany Sol Lopez, shared an open letter to Díaz-Canel with a photograph of her seven-month-old baby asleep on a cot in their yard after 48 hours without power: "President, my child doesn’t know how to endure, nor does he understand the mess of a country he lives in."
In Matanzas, one family resorted to sleeping on their rooftop for over a week in search of relief, while other mothers reported heat rashes on their children and infants unable to sleep for more than three nights.
This testimony arises amid Cuba's most severe electrical crisis in recent history. The electrical grid is operating at a mere 1,100 MW compared to a demand exceeding 3,100 MW, with a record shortfall of 2,341 MW noted on July 10.
Cuba has already experienced at least five total blackouts in 2026, marking the tenth collapse of the National Electroenergetic System in 24 months, with outages lasting over 20 hours daily in Havana and reaching 87 consecutive hours in Matanzas.
The absence of electricity also leads to water shortages, as pumps require power to operate. Approximately 2.7 million Cubans lack regular access to potable water, with 43.3% of households receiving it every three days or less.
Garbage collection has also ground to a halt: Havana operates only 44 out of 106 available trucks due to fuel shortages, resulting in mountains of waste in streets and neighborhoods and facilitating the spread of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, with active dengue and chikungunya outbreaks in 134 municipalities.
Even Díaz-Canel admitted to the Communist Party on June 12 that "resilience alone is not enough," yet he failed to offer concrete solutions for the millions of Cubans like Maria Acuña Cruz's baby, who face the nightly torment of heat, mosquitoes, and darkness.
Key Issues in Cuba's Electricity Crisis
What is causing Cuba's prolonged power outages?
Cuba is experiencing a significant deficit in its electrical grid, operating at around 1,100 MW against a demand of over 3,100 MW, leading to record shortages.
How are power outages affecting Cuban families?
Prolonged power outages exacerbate heat conditions, leading families to sleep outside, and cause water shortages as pumps cannot function without electricity.
What health issues are linked to the current crisis?
The current crisis has led to health issues like mosquito-borne diseases due to waste accumulation, and heat-related illnesses such as rashes in children.