Residents of Maceo Street, between Fresneda and Perdomo, in the municipality of Regla, east of Havana, closed the public road this Friday in protest of the lack of drinking water and electricity, halting traffic in the area and stopping at least one bus.
The images and videos shared on social media by independent journalists Yosmany Mayeta Labrada, Mag Jorge Castro, and content creator Elio Rafael Sosa show dozens of neighbors in the street, with traffic completely blocked and traffic agents present at the scene.
The authorities' response was to send a water tank, but the protesters outright rejected it. "They brought a tank, and the people refuse to touch a bucket of water; they should just provide the water and the electricity," wrote Elio Rafael Sosa in a comment on Facebook, summarizing the stance of the residents. The videos that circulated also show uniformed military personnel attempting to contain and calm the protesters.
A passenger trapped in one of the stopped buses described the scene in a video by Yosmany Mayeta Labrada: "We are in a bus. And the street is blocked, the traffic and everything because we are here... Regla flooded."
According to Sosa, the protest also created a "stir" in the neighborhood, with the tension typical of a community that has gone too long without answers from the regime.
Regla has a documented history of water protests that occurs with a frequency that highlights the lack of structural solutions. In July 2025, mothers closed a street after more than three months without service; in September 2025, residents of La Loma de Fumero protested after 30 days without potable water; and in October 2025, women again blocked a road and the government sent seven trucks without ensuring a continuous supply. The pattern is always the same: emergency trucks that the residents reject as insufficient.
The protest this Friday takes place in the context of a wave of discontent that has shaken several neighborhoods in Havana for several days. Reports of street protests and pot-banging have emerged in Vedado, Centro Habana, Playa, Regla, and San Miguel del Padrón, driven by power outages of up to 22 hours a day and the accumulation of shortages. Cubalex documented at least 14 arrests in Havana related to protests against blackouts since March 6, 2026.
The water crisis is directly linked to the electrical collapse: without electricity, the pumps of the aqueducts do not work. According to data from the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources analyzed by AP, almost 2.7 million Cubans lack regular access to drinking water. The national hydraulic system was operating with barely 37% of the necessary fuel for pumping.
Only in Havana, more than 376,000 people faced issues accessing water by mid-May 2026: nearly 67,000 due to infrastructure breakages and over 309,000 due to lack of electricity for pumping. The OPS/WHO identified Havana as one of the most affected provinces, with an 80% impact on water supply.
While the regime insists on responding with temporary fixes that the Cubans themselves reject, the water supply infrastructure and the electrical system remain unrepaired, and the desperation in neighborhoods like Regla continues to spill over into the streets.
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