New protests erupted in Havana on the night of May 14, when residents of Guanabacoa took to the streets with barricades and bonfires in response to power outages of up to 22 hours a day.
A video shared on social media, with tens of thousands of views, shows nighttime scenes with flames and dense smoke in the streets of the municipality, as the police attempted to disperse the protesters, who responded by throwing stones.
"The police arrive to repress him, and the people defend themselves with stones. The street is the only option," described the page Libre Del Comunismo on Facebook while sharing the images.
Since last Wednesday, the protests have spread across several municipalities in Havana. In Playa, the police violently suppressed the demonstrators, according to reports of police repression in Havana.
In Marianao, residents closed streets in protest against power outages lasting over 20 hours, while a CUPET service station at the intersection of Dolores and 24 was smashed by protesters during the nighttime demonstrations.
The immediate trigger was an unprecedented energy crisis: on May 13, the Electric Union reported a record deficit of 2,113 MW at 8:40 PM, with only 1,230 MW available against a demand of 3,250 MW, according to the complex electro-energy situation recognized by the regime when calling an urgent appearance of the Minister of Energy.
The minister Vicente de la O Levy publicly admitted to power outages of between 20 and 22 hours a day in some circuits of the capital, to which Cubans responded: "It's not discomfort, it's an abuse."
There were also reports of massive internet outages in Havana during the protests, as well as the deployment of motorcycles and State Security patrols in the affected areas.
The regime official Gerardo Hernández implicitly acknowledged that protesting in Cuba "can be costly", sarcastically commenting on the burning of containers during the nighttime protests and blaming the U.S. embargo for the fuel shortage.
Díaz-Canel, for his part, responded to those who label Cuba as a "failed state" with the phrase "Cuba stands strong," while the United States Embassy issued a security alert due to the blackouts and protests in Havana.
Social unrest had been steadily escalating: the Observatorio Cubano de Conflictos recorded 1,133 protests just in April 2026, a 29.5% increase compared to the same month in 2025, making the events of May 13 and 14 the peak of a rising wave of outrage that has not ceased to grow.
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