Faced with the farmers’ demands, the authorities replied that “there are more important companies” to attend to first
14ymedio, Havana, October 11, 2025 — For more than two weeks, Amarilys and Gustavo have been without electricity in their home in the Cuban municipality of Florida, Camagüey. Heavy rains in late September caused serious damage to the infrastructure of the poles that bring power to the farmers associated with the Martyrs of Barbados Basic Cooperative Production Unit (UBPC). Since then “the blackout has been total and we are desperate,” the woman tells 14ymedio.
“We have complained everywhere but no one gives us a date for restoring the power,” she explains with anguish. ” All this is costing us money and health; even the animals are suffering because we don’t have electricity to pump water.” Her situation is even more dramatic because “there are two elderly people in the family. One is now bedridden and suffering a lot, because without a fan they can’t sleep, and without power, the food in the refrigerator goes bad.”
The heavy downpours of September 23 and 24, coupled with a severe local storm, put a dent in an electrical supply system that was already showing multiple failures. “We experienced severe flooding in Florida those days; people had to get their belongings to safety as best they could.” The weather has remained unstable, and this Thursday the rainfall brought “rain on top of damp,” says Amarilys, and not only from the water that fell from the sky.
“They say that the rains make it difficult to repair the fallen poles that left us without light and that there are other priorities of companies more strategic than our UBPC.” With about 25 associated families, including usufructuaries and owners, the entity specializes in milk production and sugar cane cultivation. Right now and until the end of next January, the so-called cold campaign is taking place in Florida, with crops, vegetables, rice and fruit being planted on more than 3,200 hectares of land distributed among state enterprises, cooperatives and other entities.
“The UBPC is the largest cooperative in the municipality for milk delivery and the most important in the cultivation of sugar cane”
“The UBPC is the largest cooperative in the municipality for milk delivery and the most important in the cultivation of sugar cane,” explains a family member who prefers anonymity. “Several demands have been made for the restoration of electricity, and the answer given is that there are more important companies.” The source clarifies that “the farmers are going through a hard situation because they can’t even give their animals water or recharge lamp batteries.”
“There are more than 100 people affected,” estimates the woman, who maintains close communication with relatives in the area. “The farmers have asked that as long as this situation lasts they allow them to deliver cheese [already made and easier to keep even with the lack of power] instead of milk, but they [the State] does not accept this possibility,” she explains referring to the government’s demands.
“The milk cart picks it up at 5:00 in the morning, so farmers must get up at 3:00 in the morning to milk,” she complains. “Their lamps aren’t charged so milking is a headache, because due to the rains the mud is horrible.”
Until a few years ago, the UBPC delivered the cane to the Argentina mill, but after the paralysis of that industry they began to bring the cane to the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes sugar mill. “Last year there were problems with milling for lack of water,” says Amarilys, who has several family members working in the nearby sugar factory. “Now, with these rains the fields are flooded, and it is very difficult to plant at this stage, and everyone is very upset with the lack of electricity.”
The hopes of the families affected by the long blackout are now focused on “the sun coming out, so everything is dry and the electricity company can work and bring us power.”
The hopes of the families affected by the long blackout are now focused on “the sun coming up, so everything is dry and the electric company can work and bring us power.” Expenses are high. “You have to cook only what you are going to eat that day because you can’t save anything. When I buy chicken I have to buy the small packages because the big ones would spoil, and that ends up being more expensive.”
Together with her husband, Gustavo, the woman tries to do “everything possible while there is sunlight.” When night falls “here you can’t even see your hands because the lamp batteries are now at zero.” This Saturday makes exactly 17 days since the last time the light bulbs hanging from the ceiling went on in their house. “I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy,” says Amarilys.
The weather, however, drives away the dreams of the woman and the rest of those affected. “The network of rain gauges of the National Institute for Water Resources in the province of Camagüey recorded significant rainfall accumulations during the last three days, influenced by the permanence of a trough over the territory and the transit of tropical waves to the south,” warns an update published this Saturday. The forecast is that the situation will remain very unstable in the coming days.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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