Electricity collapse in Cuba unleashes massive protests: Pot-banging, fires and regime repression

Havana staged protests on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning stoked by prolonged blackouts, lack of water and the general deterioration of living conditions in the country. According to reports on social networks from activists, independent journalists and residents of different capital municipalities, this was the third consecutive night of complaints against the regime this week.

The protests began in broad daylight in San Miguel de Padrón, a working-class municipality of the Cuban capital, and spread to different parts of the city as electricity blackouts continued, lasting up to 20 hours a day.

Demonstrations and spontaneous gatherings were reported in areas of Diez de Octubre, Playa, Marianao, Guanabacoa, Boyeros, Plaza de la Revolución (Puentes Grandes and Vedado), Cotorro, Habana del Este (Cojímar, Alamar), Regla, La Lisa, Cerro, among other parts of Havana.

While this was happening in the Caribbean capital, other provinces remained practically disconnected from the energy system for long days that exceeded 24 hours, even 28 hours, without electricity service.

Repression: "There is no fuel for ambulances, but there is for patrols"

Even with the communications cuts, during the night reports of demonstrations and clashes with repressive forces circulated on multiple platforms.

Videos and testimonies spread on social media showed police patrols, police motorcycles and repressive deployments in different parts of the capital. Police beat people in Vedado, a central part of the capital, and in another protest, demonstrators could be seen resisting being loaded onto a military truck.

Cuban journalist and academic José Raúl Gallego wrote on Facebook: "At no time, not even in the worst moment, have the thousands of trucks, patrols and motorcycles that the regime uses to repress citizens stopped."

The journalist added: "There is no fuel for ambulances, but there is for patrols" and attributed the availability of resources for repression to the reserves controlled by the Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior.

The regime's historical justification

The electricity crisis in Cuba worsened this week after Unit 1 of the Felton Thermoelectric Plant in Holguin, one of the country's main generation units, went offline. In addition, rising temperatures due to the imminent arrival of summer have made the heat unbearable and increased the demand for electricity, which the state-owned Unión Eléctrica (UNE) is unable to meet.

Cuba on Wednesday again accused the United States of the "particularly tense" situation of its electrical grid, affected by prolonged blackouts, while Washington again offered $100 million in aid for the island.

The communist government claims that the energy crisis is a consequence of an oil blockade imposed by the administration of Donald Trump since the beginning of the year.

The United States, on the other hand, argues that the situation is due to domestic economic mismanagement.

Just this Wednesday in a special appearance, Vicente de la O Levy, Minister of Energy and Mines admitted that there are 20 to 22 hours a day of blackouts in Havana. The supply crisis has been aggravated by the lack of fuel supplies from abroad since the supply of crude oil from Venezuela and Mexico was suspended.

The fuel that Russia had sent in March also ran out, the official added.