Neighbors from the El Vedado neighborhood in Havana staged a loud protest in broad daylight this Tuesday in response to the prolonged blackouts affecting the area, marking an escalation from the nighttime demonstrations that have characterized protests in Cuba.
The journalist José Raúl Gallego reported on Facebook that he received information from multiple sources about "loud protests with pots and pans in El Vedado, in broad daylight," in areas surrounding the Focsa building and the Antimperialist Tribune.
At the intersection of 13 and M, the neighbors did not just bang pots from their homes: they took to the streets to protest, with police presence reported in the area.
From another point in the same neighborhood, at 17 and M, the page The Channel of Emotions spread an audio recording that documents the sound of pots being struck "in broad daylight."
Residents of the area confirmed on social media the direct trigger for the protest: three consecutive days without electricity.
Niurka Ordunez said: "Yesterday in the area they set a time from 6 to 7 in the evening, and now they have limited it to 45 minutes; they are playing with the human limits too much."
"It’s true, I live nearby, they haven't had electricity for three days, how much longer?” wrote the user Cecy Rodríguez in a Facebook comment. Yailis Mon replied: “Exactly. Since Sunday.”
This means that the power outage in that area began on Sunday, May 31, and continued uninterrupted until this Wednesday.
The most significant element of this protest is precisely its daytime nature. In Cuba, nighttime pot-banging protests provide a degree of anonymity for participants. The fact that the residents of El Vedado have taken to the streets to protest in broad daylight signifies a willingness to assume a considerably greater personal risk in the face of the regime's repression.
El Vedado also carries a particular symbolic weight: the neighborhood is just a few blocks from the Plaza de la Revolución, the Anti-Imperialist Tribune, and the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.
This episode is not isolated. On Tuesday, new protests involving pots and pans were reported in several municipalities of Havana, including Regla, Centro Habana, Habana Vieja, Cayo Hueso, and San Miguel del Padrón.
El Vedado and Nuevo Vedado have been recurring hotspots for protests since March 2026, with documented episodes on March 13 in front of the Palace of the Revolution, March 23 in front of the Central Committee of the PCC, and April 17 in Nuevo Vedado, all triggered by power outages that in some circuits have exceeded 20 hours a day.
The electrical crisis fueling these protests shows no signs of resolution. The Electric Company of Havana forecasted on Tuesday an impact of 1,550 MW at noon and 1,000 MW during the peak at night, figures that confirm the structural deficit of the National Electric System continues to adversely affect the population with no prospect of improvement.
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