Protests against the Government in Baracoa after 14 hours of power outage: "We want electricity!"

Residents of Baracoa, in Guantánamo, staged a street protest this Thursday night after a day of blackouts that left them without electricity for more than 14 hours.

Baracoa- Cabacu in action. They ask for the power to be restored after 15 hours without electricity. Meanwhile, in the city, almost 18 hours without power," reported the user identified as Yadira Durán Rodríguez on Facebook.

Videos shared on social media showed Baracoa residents in the streets, expressing their indignation at the abusive lack of electricity supply and the daily food shortages they suffer from.

"We want electricity and food!" several neighbors were heard shouting during the protests, which appeared to unfold peacefully, without damage or altercations with the police.

Officialist social media profiles echoed the dialogue between the authorities and the neighbors. "As Fidel taught us. Leaders alongside the people, in the most difficult moments. Explaining, uniting," stated Lorian Milhet Fuentes, member of the Municipal Bureau appointed to address the political and ideological sphere in Baracoa, on Facebook.

"This is what needs to be done, damn it! What we need to do here is this, damn it!" a neighbor from Baracoa was heard saying as she recorded images of the protest on her phone. "We want electricity!" shouted others as they marched through the dark streets of Villa Primada.

On the other hand, Milhet Fuentes hurried to publish videos featuring statements from sympathizers of the Cuban regime who urged not to express discontent on the streets of the city.

"This is a call to young people and everyone else. I believe we should come together, but not like this, but come together to all find an alternative to the situation that the municipality and the country are currently facing. I believe that the solution is not this demonstration," said one of the people recorded by Milhet Fuentes.

According to his words, "the solution is to look for alternatives, how can we provide food for the children, what could the municipality do to collaborate with the population. I think we should come up with ideas to come together in a different way, and not the way things are being done today."

"We will be increasingly worse off if you leaders continue to defend abuse against your own people. If you cannot solve the problems, do not lend yourselves to making videos under the pretext of those blessed 'alternatives'. What alternatives does an infirm person have? What alternatives does a retiree who receives 1,500 pesos have, which is not even enough for two days; whose [pension is deposited in a] card and cannot withdraw it because there is no money. And if they deposit a little, they cannot withdraw it because there is a power outage...", responded a Cuban in the comments on the official video."

In another series of short videos, another supporter of the regime condemned the protests and attributed them to the subversive efforts of the United States, a country he also blamed for the situation in Cuba due to its "blockade." Additionally, he stated that the order in Cuba would never be subverted "because there are more of us who are in favor of the revolution."