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 night scenes with flames and thick smoke in the streets of the municipality, while the police tried to disperse the protesters, who responded by throwing rocks.
"The police arrive to suppress him, and the people defend themselves with stones. The street is the only one," described the page Libre Del Comunismo on Facebook while sharing the images.
Since last Wednesday, protests have spread across several municipalities in Havana. In Playa, police violently suppressed the protesters, 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 stoned by protesters during the nighttime demonstrations.
The immediate trigger was an unprecedented energy crisis: on May 13, the Electric Union recorded 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 for an urgent appearance by the Minister of Energy.
The minister Vicente de la O Levy publicly admitted to blackouts lasting 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."
Massive internet outages were also reported in Havana during the protests, along with the deployment of motorcycles and patrols from State Security in the affected areas.
The regime official Gerardo Hernández implicitly admitted 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 shortages.
Díaz-Canel, for his part, responded to those who label Cuba as a "failed state" with the phrase "Cuba remains standing," while the U.S. Embassy issued a security alert regarding the blackouts and protests in Havana.
Social unrest has been steadily escalating: the Cuban Observatory of Conflicts 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 curve of indignation that has not stopped growing.
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