The former world boxing champion says the blackout on the island happens all the time, but in Havana they are a little more careful.
14ymedio/Swing Completo, Havana, 17 March 2025 — “Cuba is like a horror movie in real time.” That’s how former world boxing champion Yordenis Ugás defined the island’s blackout that has lasted more than three days. The boxer, now exiled in the United States, shared a photo of the Cuban capital in darkness on his Facebook account this Sunday, emphasizing: “This happens all the time in the interior of the country,” although “Havana is more careful.”
Ugás, who fled the island by boat in 2010 and lives in Miami, questioned: “How can a Cuban live in the United States or China and not report this?” The Santiago native doesn’t understand those who choose to “go dancing and shake their butts with many who are sometimes like them: how can you be so insignificant in life?”
This happens all the time in the interior of the country,” although with “Havana they are more careful,” said Yordenis Ugás.
“How can a Cuban say he represents his country and his community and not denounce this?” Ugás asked. “How can you be so unworthy?” In his comment, echoed by Swing Completo the athlete notes: “So you can’t ask God why this suffering has lasted 66 years, when many of our people have pulled themselves out of the suffering and forgotten what happened.”
Ugás laments the sadness of his fellow countrymen, of “our families, our children, our neighbors, without power, without the hope of seeing the light tomorrow.”
While the power outages prevail on the island due to the collapse of the National Electric System last Friday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel speaks of “continuing the fight with optimism and faith in victory.” The energy collapse, the fourth in less than six months, has left the vast majority of Cuba’s 9.7 million people without power and, in many cases, without other basic services.
Ugás also denounced on social media that both Cuba and North Korea are “the two countries with the least freedom, at least economically.” The exiled boxer reiterated that he always condemns “all dictatorships, both left and right.” The Santiago native clarified that in “other countries, people can grow, read, and improve themselves and reach their heights.”
In another commentary, Ugás said that the closure of Martí Noticias “brought the communists in Havana to a celebration.” The exiled boxer recalled growing up “during the Special Period and the rafters [crisis], listening to Radio Martí reporting the news and the things and stories that were happening here and often there.”
The boxer commented that he became a TV Martí viewer since his mother arrived in Miami a few months ago. “Trump, in this second administration, has arrived with Musk, and while it’s true that government spending seems gross and unsustainable, injustice will surely be committed.”
Ugas acknowledges that he is no expert, however, “whatever decision makes the miserable dictators of Havana happy, I logically do not agree with it and I repudiate it.” He concluded his opinion with “God, Homeland, Life, Liberty.”
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