An image released this Friday by the channel WPLG Local 10 News shows a group of between 20 and 30 people —including women, men, and children— blocking a highway in Havana, with a white Hyundai police cruiser with its blue lights flashing visible in the foreground, amidst the protests that have shaken the Cuban capital since May 13.
The protests, sparked by power outages of up to 22 hours a day, spread to at least 12 municipalities in Havana, including Guanabacoa, Marianao, Playa, San Miguel del Padrón, Luyanó, Santos Suárez, Habana del Este, Regla, Boyeros, El Vedado, Nuevo Vedado, and Puentes Grandes.
Reuters described the night of May 13 as the largest day of protests in Havana since the energy crisis worsened.
The neighbors blocked streets with burning trash, erected barricades, and chanted slogans such as "Down with the dictatorship!", "Power and food!", and "Turn on the lights!".
The presence of children among the protesters became one of the most striking elements of international coverage, documented by both WPLG Local 10 and journalist Patrick Oppmann from CNN.
A Cuban mother recorded by Oppmann during a protest summarized the desperate situation of families: "The children are going without food, without going to school, we are desperate".
The underlying crisis is structural: the Cuban Electric Union projected a peak generating capacity of only 976 MW against a demand of 3,150 MW, a deficit equivalent to 70% of the island without electricity at the same time.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, acknowledged that the country had completely depleted its reserves of fuel oil and diesel, and confirmed power outages of 20 to 22 hours daily in some circuits of the capital.
Cuba needs approximately 100,000 barrels of fuel per day but only produces about 40,000 on its own; as of 2026, only two tankers have officially unloaded fuel.
The regime's response included police repression with beatings of protesters in the Playa municipality on May 14, massive internet cuts, and the deployment of "black berets" and State Security patrols.
The United States Embassy in Havana issued a security alert on May 14, warning American citizens to avoid areas of demonstration.
The social context is equally serious: the Cuban Conflict Observatory recorded 1,133 protests just in April 2026, a 29.5% increase compared to the same month in 2025, while the Food Monitor Program estimated that 96.91% of the Cuban population lacked adequate access to food during that same month.
The UN warned in April 2026 that on health, water, sanitation, food, education, transportation, and telecommunications in Cuba.
While Cuban families, including their children, took to the streets in a display of desperation, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero called on officials to “be in the streets” —referring to managing the crisis— without providing concrete solutions to the energy and food collapse that the island is experiencing.
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