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The police of the Cuban regime violently suppressed protesters on Thursday in the municipality of Playa, in Havana, according to a video posted on Facebook by journalist Mario J. Pentón under the hashtag #PATRIAYVIDA.
In the 38-second clip, witnesses can be heard exclaiming, "It's happening, it's happening, look at the people," as they describe the scene of repression on the streets of the Havana municipality.
The events of this Thursday are part of a series of protests that have been taking place in the capital for several days, driven by blackouts that in some areas exceed 20 hours a day and a projected electricity deficit approaching 2,000 MW during peak night hours.
Yesterday, residents of Nuevo Vedado took to the streets to protest after enduring 24 consecutive hours without electricity, in one of the many demonstrations that shook the capital in a single day.
In San Miguel del Padrón, residents gathered in front of the municipal government headquarters with the slogan "Food and Power!", demanding solutions to a crisis that the regime has neither been able—nor seems willing—to resolve.
Also yesterday, residents of Marianao took to the streets with pot banging, bonfires, and burning trash in protest against the prolonged power outages that are suffocating the population.
On Wednesday, residents of Luyanó staged a cacerolazo and blocked the Calzada de Concha, joining the wave of outrage sweeping through the capital's municipalities.
The documented repression in Playa reflects a systematic pattern of the regime: deployment of special forces known as "black berets," plainclothes police, military patrols, and internet shutdowns in areas where demonstrations occur.
A report by Cubalex on social militarization in Cuba describes how streets, parks, and residential areas in Havana remain under the constant surveillance of police and military patrols, which the organization classifies as a strategy of social control in response to increasing discontent.
Since March 6, 2026, at least 14 people have been arrested in Havana for participating in pot-banging protests, according to data from Cubalex.
This Thursday, messages with the slogan "Patria y Vida" and against Díaz-Canel appeared in Havana, painted on the city's walls, signaling that popular resistance does not yield to repression.
The Cuban Observatory of Conflicts recorded 1,133 protests in April 2026, a 29.5% increase compared to the same month in 2025, a figure that reflects the sustained escalation of discontent that the regime tries to quell through repression and arrests, but is unable to extinguish.
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