Gloria María Sánchez, a Cuban woman from Havana, shared a video from her modest home under construction on Facebook, which quickly garnered around 39,000 views. In this heartfelt recording, made after enduring a night without electricity, Sánchez delivers a rare and raw denunciation of the hunger, poverty, censorship, and corruption afflicting the Cuban people.
"Since six o'clock yesterday evening, we've been without power. That makes you think about a lot of things," Sánchez begins in the two-minute and sixteen-second video, as she sits in her home and voices her thoughts on the island's dire situation.
Using a medical analogy, she portrays Cuba as a sick body: "I think of my Cuba as a wound with growing dead tissue. Tissue dead from hunger, poverty, censorship, corruption, painful exodus, and prisons filled with young people." She emphasizes the need for drastic intervention, saying, "We need a good surgeon to cut away all that dead tissue," warning, "Otherwise, we might have to do it ourselves."
Sánchez firmly rejects the official narrative urging resilience and patience for better times: "Another year and we'll all be dead from hunger. All dead, all of us."
She directly criticizes the state-run ration stores, a system touted by the regime as a social cornerstone. "The store in my neighborhood is a form of extraction. Vampire stores that drain the little money we have and it ends up who knows where," she declares.
Despite the oppressive atmosphere, citizen testimonies continue to circulate on platforms like Facebook. Power outages have ignited protests, with the Cuban Observatory of Conflicts reporting 107 street demonstrations in June 2026 alone, marking a historic high, with chants of "Freedom" and "Down with the dictatorship" echoing across various provinces. The story of a mother from Santiago de Cuba with eight malnourished children, shared this Wednesday, highlights that Sánchez's plight is not isolated.
Closing her video, Sánchez poses a question that encapsulates the frustration of millions: "How much longer will we sit here as I am, as I woke up here, thinking and thinking, wearing myself out? How much longer? Freedom for Cuba."
Understanding the Cuban Crisis
What issues are currently affecting the Cuban population?
The Cuban population is struggling with severe issues such as hunger, poverty, frequent blackouts, censorship, and corruption.
How are power outages influencing protests in Cuba?
Power outages have acted as a catalyst for protests, with a significant increase in demonstrations demanding freedom and an end to the dictatorship.
What is the role of social media in Cuba's current situation?
Social media platforms like Facebook are crucial for sharing citizen testimonies and raising awareness about the dire conditions in Cuba.