Residents of the Condado neighborhood in Santa Clara took to the streets on Tuesday night to bang pots and protest against the prolonged power outages affecting the capital of Villa Clara, as reported by the organization Ciudadanía y Libertad and shared by the political prisoner Andy García Lorenzo on social media.
In parallel, Havana also experienced a night of high tension: the activist Adelth Bonne Gamboa reported a fire in a garbage dump at the intersection of Zapotes and Durege, in Santos Suárez; the user Daniela O. reported another in the Playa municipality after a pot-banging protest, as disseminated by the activist Magdiel Jorge Castro on his social media.
On the same day, a massive protest was reported in Manrique and Reina, Central Havana, just six blocks from the Capitol.
Everything happened on the eve of the Extraordinary Plenary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, called for this Wednesday with the aim of assessing a set of economic reforms initiated by Miguel Díaz-Canel.
García Lorenzo, who spread the images of the demonstration in Santa Clara, is a former political prisoner sentenced to four years in prison for his participation in the protests of July 11, 2021, on charges of public disorder, contempt, and assault.
Power outages in Villa Clara have reached up to 20 hours a day, while in Havana, interruptions last between 12 and 22 hours. The electricity generation deficit in Cuba hit a record of 2,113 MW on May 13, 2026, according to data from the Electric Union.
This new wave of protests is part of a sustained movement that has not stopped since March. The Cuban Conflict Observatory recorded 1,311 protests just in May 2026, a figure close to the historical record of 1,333 from December 2025, and documented 46 in-person street protests that month, the second highest number in its history.
The slogans have intensified over the weeks. Initially, Cubans were demanding "Current and food!", but the cacerolazo in El Cotorro on June 10 echoed with shouts of "Down with the dictatorship!", and on June 3, demonstrators in San Lázaro, Centro Habana, pushed back the police during a nighttime protest.
The regime's response has combined repression and announcements of reforms. Cubalex documented at least 14 arrests in Havana related to protests over blackouts since March 6, 2026.
For its part, the Extraordinary Plenary of the PCC this Wednesday has on its agenda measures such as reducing the number of ministries from 27 to 21, increasing business and municipal autonomy, promoting small and medium-sized enterprises (mipymes), and allowing investments from Cubans abroad.
Analysts interpret this plenary session as a response to the accumulated social pressure, although the simultaneous nature of the street protests and the party meeting underscores the magnitude of the challenge faced by the dictatorship: while the Politburo deliberates behind closed doors, Cubans continue to bang pots and pans in the streets.
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