I Understand and I Don’t Understand: The Information That Never Arrives

When analyzing the title of this commentary, a beloved Matanzas character came to mind, known as «Comprendo» (I Understand), alluding to the title of a song of his authorship: «Comprendo y no comprendo» (I Understand and I Don’t Understand).

That is, truly, what happened to me this Sunday. We were, in the Armando Mestre neighborhood of Matanzas, for a prolonged period without electricity; it was restored at 9:50 a.m. and at 10:00 a.m. it went out again. This is normal.

When electricity arrives, after a prolonged period, families want to do everything at once: cook, wash, run turbines, refrigerators, air conditioners; in short, transformers get saturated and circuits trip.

This happens every day, but in a not-too-long time it is restored again, and this cycle repeats several times until it stabilizes. Today it did not happen that way.

As time passed and electricity did not arrive, comments began. The most widespread was that the neighborhood’s transformer had broken — something common these days.

Knowing that the Matanzas Electric Company has a Telegram page, I ignored the comments and went to look for that page. To my misfortune, I did not find any information on the matter.

I called 18 888, Customer Service of the Company, and they informed me that they were already aware that the transformer had been affected, but that it was not yet time to provide service to this area.

That’s when I thought: we have a Communications Law that insists on truthful and timely information. A law that contemplates a plan for times of crisis, with the purpose of keeping the people informed. Could there be any greater crisis than the energy crisis Cuba is experiencing today? In addition to these supports, there are institutional pages.

I am of the opinion that the Matanzas Electric Company’s Telegram page is inoperative, because it does not inform what the people need to know. Throughout the entire time we were without electricity, it reported nothing.

It only communicated: «At this moment we have XX MW affected due to generation capacity deficit.» These institutional pages are created to inform with clear language and say what needs to be known.

Likewise, I am of the opinion that if the page does not report, in real time, what is happening in the sector, it is better not to waste time and resources. The people want to know what affects them.