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Dozens of residents took to the streets of Santos Suárez and other municipalities of La Habana on the night of Wednesday, May 13, in the most extensive wave of protests recorded in the capital since July 11, 2021, triggered by power outages lasting up to 22 hours a day.
The journalist José Raúl Gallego published testimonies sent from Havana that described the magnitude of what happened: "All of Santos Suárez is in the street. They have set fire at every corner. I have never seen this like this since July 11th. They cut off the internet. There are many security motorcycles passing by. And I am told that there are more reports from Diez de Octubre as well."
The protests were not limited to Santos Suárez. According to reports from Gallego himself, the hotspots of protest extended to Lawton, Playa, Marianao, Guanabacoa, Boyeros, and Vedado, as well as Regla, Habana del Este, San Miguel del Padrón, and Nuevo Vedado.
"The dictatorship is facing a May 13. Protests in Diez de Octubre, Lawton, Playa, Marianao, Guanabacoa, Boyeros, Vedado. And they're still missing the 20. If all of Cuba comes out, they won't last another round," the journalist wrote.
The forms of protest included banging pots and pans, blocking streets, burning trash, and lighting bonfires. In San Miguel del Padrón, residents gathered in front of the municipal government headquarters with the slogan "Food and electricity!", while in Reparto Bahía, the chant "Down with the dictatorship!" could be heard during a pot-banging protest.
In Nuevo Vedado, residents of Block 1 protested after 24 consecutive hours without electricity, and in Arroyo Naranjo graffiti appeared overnight with “Homeland and Life” and messages against Díaz-Canel on electrical infrastructures.
The energy crisis that triggered the protests reached record levels: the Electric Union reported a generation deficit of 2,113 MW at 8:40 PM on Wednesday, with only 1,230 MW available against a demand of 3,250 MW. The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, justified the situation as a "special case" and admitted to blackouts of between 20 and 22 hours daily in some circuits of the capital.
Miguel Díaz-Canel responded via Facebook denying that Cuba is a "failed state," blaming the "genocidal energy blockade" by the United States and acknowledging that the situation is "particularly tense." He admitted that the country needs at least eight fuel ships per month, but that only one arrived between January and April 2026.
The events of Wednesday occur a day after Luyanó residents blocked Calzada de Concha during a nighttime protest known as a "cacerolazo," and are part of a sustained escalation: the Cuban Observatory of Conflicts reported 1,133 protests in April 2026, an increase of 29.5% compared to the same month in 2025, and 1,245 in March, the highest monthly figure since July 11.
In social media posts, activists and protesters mentioned May 20 —the date of the proclamation of the Cuban Republic in 1902— as a possible day for a new mass mobilization.
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