JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A worsening power-grid crisis in Cuba has left millions without steady electricity, water and, in some areas, medical care, prompting worry among Cuban families living in Jacksonville who cannot reach loved ones on the island.
Mildred Sanchez said she has not heard from relatives in Cuba in days and that the lack of power has made basic needs — refrigeration, clean water and food — unreliable.
“It’s been four days since I’ve heard anything from them,” said Sanchez.
Sanchez emigrated in 2014 with her husband and two daughters and said she had kept in regular contact with aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters until the recent blackout.
She described living conditions on the island as “catastrophic” and said food scarcity has become more acute because refrigeration is unavailable.
Sanchez said families fear food will spoil quickly and that staples such as chicken are harder to find. She described the emotional strain of watching family members go hungry from afar.
“It’s really sad to know that you have a plate of food here and it’s easy, and you don’t think twice about it. To know that your family, your aunts that raised you, your brothers that were born with you and grew up with you, that all of you had a life together, and now you know that they don’t have anything to eat. They don’t even have a piece of bread, not even a piece of bread, because that kind of life doesn’t exist for them,” she said.
Local immigrants organized a gathering on Sunday to call attention to conditions on the island and to push for greater awareness and unity among the Cuban community in Jacksonville.
“The people [are] asking for a change of the government,” said Yoarlene Rodriguez, a Jacksonville resident. “There is no human rights, freedom of speech, you can’t believe different than the government because of that. You can go to jail even [being a] minor.”
Officials and experts say Cuba’s power failures stem from a mix of aging infrastructure, limited fuel imports and growing international pressure.
The report provided in the source material links new pressure to U.S. restrictions on fuel shipments connected to a separate international incident, a claim that needs verification.
For families in Jacksonville, the crisis is personal and immediate: Unanswered calls, concern for elderly relatives and anxiety over how long the outages will last.