Desperation in Cuba: Laritza Camacho Shares Three Scenes from a Nation in Crisis

Laritza Camacho, a Cuban news anchor and host, shared a personal account on Facebook, depicting three stark scenes she witnessed at the intersection of 10 de Octubre and Vía Blanca in Havana. These moments vividly illustrate the deep-seated desperation among Cubans grappling with ongoing crises.

In one scene, individuals were seen drawing water from a well in the middle of the street using buckets. Nearby, a community protest was being managed by police officers while water trucks arrived, seemingly pressured into action by the demonstrators. Just a block and a half away, a blind elderly man banged on a pot, shouting, "How long do we have to wait? Turn on the power, bring the water, turn on the gas..."

While traveling in a rikimbili—a makeshift Cuban vehicle—Camacho overheard a fellow passenger voicing her frustrations. The woman claimed she'd been without running water for seven months and was "tired of speeches and lies." She used a metaphor to describe the selective distribution of resources: "If you invite me to your home and say you have no coffee to offer, I understand. But if, while I'm there, someone else arrives and you make coffee, it's clear you had it but chose not to share."

The passenger concluded with a statement that Camacho labeled as "absurd and incoherent": "I'm not against this. I'm a revolutionary, but this government is a sham." Camacho quietly replied, "Ma'am, they are this... and as long as we support this but oppose them, the universe won't understand us."

Camacho's analysis suggests that the scarcity of resources is not total but rather controlled: "Months without water, protests in the street, and then they send a water truck... three weeks of power outages lasting over 20 hours, and just when you're about to scream, the DAF kicks in, and the fan cools your throat."

She encapsulated her narrative with the image of the blind elderly man, a metaphor for the nation: "There's no one blinder than those who refuse to see."

The DAF—Automatic Frequency Disconnection—is a mechanism in the National Electric System that automatically cuts circuits to prevent a complete network collapse. In this ongoing crisis, provincial electric companies grant areas a sort of "grace week" where power outages are shorter. Many, exhausted by the situation, find relief when the DAF activates.

The water supply crisis is among the most severe, with 2.7 million Cubans, almost 29% of the island's 9.4 million residents, lacking water in their homes. Yunior González, an official from the national Water and Sanitation company, acknowledged to AFP that 80% to 85% of distributed water must be pumped to reach homes, making every power cut an automatic interruption of water supply.

The Diez de Octubre municipality in Havana has been under significant strain for months. In July, women blocked the 10 de Octubre Avenue, demanding water and electricity. By September, Lawton residents protested against connecting a facility to the power grid while people depended on water trucks.