In Holguín, Cuba, scheduled power outages force residents to plan their days around electricity availability. Lien Estrada describes how these cuts, lasting up to six hours, dictate when people can work, connect online, or perform essential tasks. Despite the challenges, she maintains hope for change.
Lien Estrada, in her diary published in Havana Times, expresses frustration at the common response to her complaints about blackouts: 'there are worse cases.' She recalls an anecdote from Yoani Sánchez at a press conference in Germany, who compared personal pain to others': if one's own tooth hurts, another's two aching teeth do not negate it.
In Holguín, blackouts are scheduled, which Estrada considers a relative luck. Some prefer cuts from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. to have power in the afternoon for internet access, though without electricity, connections often fail. Estrada chooses no power in the afternoon to have it from 6:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. every other day, feeling privileged.
These outages completely alter the day: they create anxiety about duration and limit tasks needing electricity, such as computer work or bank visits. During blackouts, people reorganize non-electric activities, like exercising, visiting family, or cooking with gas or wood. When power returns, a rush ensues to make use of every minute.
Estrada mentions worse cases, like outages over 24 hours elsewhere, restorations of only two hours, or in rural Mayarí, electricity just one day a month. Facing failed government promises, some suggest permanent cuts. Yet Estrada highlights instinctive hope that fuels endurance, not from official slogans, but from rejecting a perpetually harsh existence, unless one emigrates. She believes this experience should prevent repetitions.