During the early hours of Friday, May 24, new popular protests were recorded in at least two cities in Cuba: Bayamo, in the province of Granma, and Cienfuegos. The demands, once again spurred by prolonged blackouts and the critical situation of shortages, were shared through several videos on social media.
In Bayamo, residents of 16th Street of Rosa, in the La Bayamesa neighborhood, reported that they had been without electricity for over 36 hours. In one of the videos, voices can be heard raised in protest amid the darkness as citizens walked with flashlights. Another recording shows groups of people gathered on 22nd Street, where, according to witnesses, black berets with dogs appeared to contain the protest. However, shortly after, the electricity service was restored, in an apparent response to popular pressure.
"Cowards, those communists!!! Don’t give up, the people are in charge," wrote a user who shared the images, which show a nighttime gathering in front of homes and in the public street, illuminated only by flashlights and mobile phones.
In Cienfuegos, specifically in the Parque Martí, another video circulated in the early morning shows shouts and sounds of unrest. While some users questioned the timeliness of the footage, others pointed out that the discontent in the city is real and that new protests have taken place in the past few hours.
The recent protests are part of a growing wave of demonstrations in the eastern region of the country, documented in recent days in cities like Santiago de Cuba, where residents of neighborhoods such as Micro 9 took to the streets to demand better living conditions. The chants of "We want food!" and "Down with the dictatorship!" have become common in the audiovisual recordings shared by citizens on social media.
As CiberCuba recently reported, the energy crisis currently experienced on the island has led to blackouts affecting nearly half of the country, intensifying social unrest and increasing tensions in several provinces.
In recent hours, several independent organizations have raised alarms about the repression against those participating in these demonstrations, including arrests, increased police presence, and temporary internet service outages in the affected areas.
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