A young Cuban has filmed his own home to reveal to the world what it's like to survive in Cuba in this year, painting an unfiltered portrait of a crisis that appears bottomless.
Emanuel González Moral, a content creator on Facebook, shared a video just over a minute long that captures the daily collapse faced by millions of Cubans: lacking gas, electricity, running water, and with empty pots.
"I live in Cuba, and living here feels like waking up every day in a horror movie. Forget what you've heard. Today, I'm going to show you the face of a country falling apart," González Moral begins in his clip.
The footage shows his family cooking with charcoal because neither gas nor electricity are viable options.
"Reality has pushed us back 100 years," he asserts. The refrigerator, instead of preserving food, is only used to store water. Opening it, he notes, "gives off more heat than keeping it closed."
Hygiene is not exempt from the crisis either. Without running water, bathing relies on buckets filled in advance. "Cuban hygiene is based on buckets and patience," he summarizes with a mix of irony and exhaustion.
The most revealing moment occurs during the recording: the power goes out. "Get ready for 3 a.m. This is an infinite loop," he states to the camera. At the end, he shows the nearly empty bottom of a pot: "Scraping the pot to see if by miracle something appears. It's harsh that this is the routine for many Cubans."
"It's ironic, we have one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world, a sky that seems unreal, but it's only there to decorate the entrance of another dark night. I won't stay silent any longer because silence is swallowing us. We're alive by miracle," concluded González Moral in the video.
The clip is not an isolated example of González Moral's work. Earlier this month, he released another video describing having electricity as living like a millionaire for a few hours: toasting bread, watching a movie on a laptop, or finding a frozen yogurt in the fridge had become luxuries.
"The chances of freezing something in Cuba today are 1%," he admitted at that time. In August, he demonstrated what could be bought with 15 dollars on the island: a small bag with ketchup, tuna, macaroni, rice, hair cream, condensed milk, malt, and flour.
The energy crisis depicted in the video has concrete figures. Cuba experienced its eighth total blackout of the year on September 18, with the recovery of the national electrical interconnection taking 32 hours, as reported by Infobae.
In Matanzas, there have been records of up to 87 consecutive hours without power. The Electric Union warned at the end of August that outages might worsen between September and December.
Each blackout also exacerbates the water crisis: approximately 87% of Cuban aqueducts rely on electric pumps. Without power, there is no water. And without gas—which a canister reportedly cost between 10,000 and 50,000 Cuban pesos on the informal market—families turn to charcoal, which tripled in price between 2024 and 2026.
The minimum wage in Cuba equals barely 4.65 dollars a month, while covering the basic food basket requires about 70,000 pesos just for food.
The "In Cuba There Is Hunger 2025" survey documented that 33.9% of households had at least one member who went to bed hungry in the previous 30 days.
Understanding Cuba's Current Crisis
What are the main challenges Cubans face in 2026?
Cubans face a severe lack of basic utilities such as gas, electricity, and running water, leading to difficulties in cooking, preserving food, and maintaining hygiene. The economic crisis also means that many struggle to afford basic necessities.
How does the energy crisis affect daily life in Cuba?
Frequent blackouts disrupt daily activities, impacting everything from cooking and refrigeration to water supply, as many aqueducts rely on electric pumps. The lack of electricity also makes it difficult for Cubans to perform simple tasks like watching TV or charging electronic devices.
What is the economic situation for the average Cuban citizen?
The economic situation is dire, with the minimum wage being around 4.65 dollars per month. This is far from sufficient to meet the basic food needs, which require approximately 70,000 Cuban pesos, forcing many to live in poverty and food scarcity.