Cuban Poet Expresses Despair: "We're Here Without Power, Without Hope"

A poet residing in Camagüey broke away from his usual lyrical posts on social media to voice a complaint about an ongoing power outage affecting 32 homes in his neighborhood. This blackout, following the explosion of a transformer, has persisted for eight days.

On September 2, Alejandro Muñoz Aguilera shared his message with a careful choice of words. His account highlights a series of oversights by the local electric company, commonly referred to as "La Planta."

Technical Failures and Inaction

During the initial visit, technicians discovered that the "caballito" — a drop-out fuse — had blown, and while attempting to replace it, they realized the actual issue was a faulty transformer. The response was blunt: "You'll have to wait because there are no available transformers; they're lost."

Despite acknowledging the shortage of parts, the poet insists that this does not absolve the authorities. "We need a solution in the short or medium term. It is the responsibility of the provincial government and the authorities subordinate to it, down to the lowest level, to find a solution to this severe crisis," he wrote.

Confronting Bureaucratic Indifference

On the eighth day without power, the second visit was even more telling. The technician did not bring a new transformer; instead, he reconnected the "caballito" to the still-damaged equipment. Muñoz Aguilera foresaw the outcome and pointed his phone camera at the pole. When the power returned, the transformer exploded again. He captured it all on video. "It's foolish to repeat the same actions expecting different results. They knew it, we knew it, yet something was done just to say something was done," he stated.

The Human Toll of Neglect

The complaint takes on a particularly painful dimension when describing those suffering in the dark. "We're here without the 'caballito,' without a transformer, without power, and without hope, in a neighborhood where more than TWENTY (20) children live, most of them girls, [...] children who cannot sleep, children I personally hear crying every night, swimming in sweat and tormented by mosquitoes," he wrote. The area is also home to numerous elderly residents, some with serious health conditions.

Highlighting the corruption tied to such situations, the poet cleverly remarked: "Even the highest officials are fed up with that term," expressing his feelings: "The indifference, laziness, and negligence with which we are treated pains us."

Widespread Systemic Issues

This is not an isolated incident in Camagüey. At the end of last month, Camagüey writer María Antonia Borroto Trujillo reported 48 continuous hours without power and the inability to file a formal complaint. Around the same time, residents of La Virginia in Najasa experienced week-long blackouts with such unstable currents that they damaged electrical appliances whenever power returned.

The problem stems from systemic issues that even the regime has acknowledged. In July, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, admitted to the National Assembly that some communities have endured up to 105 consecutive days without electricity, blaming the situation on old, irreplaceable voltage transformers.

Muñoz Aguilera concluded his message with the resilient voice of a poet: "I will continue writing my sad poems, hoping for the light to come with its different faces to brighten my neighborhood and my country. It's raining today, the night is long, and the heat bares its teeth. I ask men to take responsibility, to pay for their misdeeds, and I ask God to have mercy on us."