A neighbor from Playa municipality in Havana invented a homemade device he called "automatic pot player": a gadget placed on the roof of his house that, with the slightest breeze, produces a sound that mimics the noise of the pot-banging protests that Cubans use against power outages.
The inventor shared a video of the invention with the independent media outlet elTOQUE, which published it in its "Citizen Report" section.
"Block 2 is one of the most affected by the prolonged blackouts, but the neighbors do not take to the streets, do not light fires, nor do they complain," explained elTOQUE in the publication.
According to what they said, that passivity has direct consequences: "That's why they cut off our electricity more than anyone else's."
The artifact was his creative response to that collective inaction, although the inventor himself humorously acknowledges that it seems to annoy his neighbors more than those who oppress on the island.
The invention arises in the context of the most serious energy crisis Cuba has faced in decades. In March 2026 alone, the island experienced at least six total national blackouts, with the longest lasting 29 hours and 29 minutes, recorded on March 16.
The electricity deficit reached 1,885 MW, with a supply of only between 1,110 and 1,190 MW compared to a demand of up to 3,080 MW.
In Havana, power outages extended for up to 20 hours on March 20 and 14 hours on March 30.
Playa is one of the most affected municipalities in the capital by the crisis. A failure in a 110 kV line affected substations in several parts of the city and caused deficits of up to 322 MW in that area.
The municipality has also become a recurring focal point for protests. On March 23, after protests involving banging pots and burning trash on the streets, police and firefighters arrived; shortly thereafter, the authorities restored electricity, which witnesses interpreted as a direct response to citizens' pressure.
Since March 6, nightly protests using cookware have been reported in dozens of neighborhoods in Havana — Vedado, Lawton, Alamar, Santos Suárez, Playa, and El Cerro — as well as in provinces like Santiago de Cuba and Ciego de Ávila. Cubalex documented at least 156 protests and 47 arrests by March 17.
The "automatic cauldron heater" is part of a long tradition of Cuban ingenuity in times of crisis: in recent months, residents of the island have made fans using walkie-talkie batteries, improvised chargers with telephone line voltage, stoves made from almond leaves and electric bicitaxis with solar panels.
The difference this time is that the artifact does not seek to survive the blackout, but rather to denounce it—even if it is with the sound of the wind hitting a cauldron on a roof in Playa.
Filed under: