In a personal diary entry, Lien Estrada recounts her efforts to recharge devices at spots with generators amid Cuba's prolonged blackouts. She visited the doctors' apartment building, the 'Twelve-Story Building,' and Vladimir Ilich Lenin Hospital. She eventually found a working outlet in Medical Sciences classrooms.
Lien Estrada, in her diary entry published on Havana Times on March 20, 2026, details the challenges of recharging devices due to prolonged blackouts. She visits spots with generators or preferential status, such as the doctors' apartment building, the 'Twelve-Story Building,' and Vladimir Ilich Lenin Hospital. Yesterday, she was lucky at the barbershop in the 'Twelve-Story Building,' where a young barber kindly allowed her to charge. Today, the barber was absent, so she went to the hospital, finding all outlets and switches broken or covered with blank plates in the areas she checked. This did not fully surprise her, as even during less severe crises, such items are stolen from schools, workplaces, and clinics. In the hospital cafeteria, a rented space, she spotted three outlets: two occupied and the third detached. She then obtained permission in the Medical Sciences classrooms and sat on a bench with a working outlet behind her. 'Honestly, right now I don’t want to think about anything. Just hoping to solve this as soon as possible and go back home,' Estrada writes. She recalls an economist's talk at the Martin Luther King Jr. Ecumenical Center, where a participant asked, 'And why isn’t it done?' and the economist shrugged. Estrada notes the current crisis feels harsher, yet urges seeking solutions without fostering more helplessness.
