The electrical collapse makes any device capable of storing a few hours of energy indispensable.
14ymedio, Havana, Juan Diego Rodríguez, 19 September 2026 / He is not carrying a ball, a backpack filled with books, or a bag with the day’s bread. This Saturday, a child walks along the arcades of Reina Street, in Centro Habana, carrying one of the most precious objects in Cuba today: a rechargeable fan. His destination is some outlet that still has power to charge the battery and guarantee a few hours of air when he returns home.
The scene sums up the Havana morning following the collapse of the National Electric System (SEN) that occurred this Friday. More than 17 hours after the total disconnection, large areas of the capital remained without service, while others that had recovered electricity during the early morning hours lost it again.
Electricity ceased to be something that came from an outlet and became a treasure that is stored, sought out, and even carried under one’s arm
In Cuba, the question “do you have electricity?” has displaced many other forms of courtesy. Knowing where to charge a phone, a lamp, a power bank, or a fan can determine a family’s daily schedule. Rechargeable devices have entered everyday conversations, solar panels occupy balconies and rooftops, and words such as inverter, amperage, battery, and photovoltaic cells have already become part of the household vocabulary. Electricity ceased to be something that came from an outlet and became a treasure that is stored, sought out, and even carried under one’s arm.
The boy on Reina Street is also walking through a very Havana-like setting. A few meters away, on the sidewalk of the arcade, several vendors have laid out used shoes, bottles, clothes, household odds and ends, and electrical parts salvaged from the trash. There is probably a piece of an old fan among the objects, one that could not withstand the long hours without electricity or the back-and-forth journey from one house to another.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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