The energy crisis sparked public unrest once again on Thursday night, as residents of Santos Suárez in the Diez de Octubre municipality of Havana staged protests and set fire to heaps of garbage in the streets amidst prolonged blackouts.
Images and testimonies shared on social media showed flames lighting up the streets of the Havana neighborhood, as residents expressed their frustration over power outages and the difficult living conditions they have been facing for months.
"Right now happening in Havana (in Santos Suárez and Bahía), a user wrote in the Facebook group Residencial Yumurí Bauta, in a post that quickly began to circulate. The message reflected the indignation of many Cubans over the normalization of power outages and the resignation to celebrate what they consider a basic service as a privilege."
"We must endure and hold on, we are continuity," the internet user ironicized while referring to the long hours without electricity that affect many areas of the country.
The journalist José Raúl Gallego also reported incidents in the area. "I am being informed from Cuba that Santos Suárez is on the street protesting. The church bell is ringing," he posted on his social media.
Independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada shared images of large bonfires in the streets of the neighborhood and claimed that several dumpsters had been set on fire by residents during the protest.
The events occur as demonstrations continue to take place in Santiago de Cuba, where for the second consecutive night, loud banging on pots and pans was reported at various locations throughout the city. During the day, Mayeta reported protests in Reparto Sorribe, Veguita de Galo, and Calle Zamorana, areas that join the Santiago neighborhoods that had already seen protests in previous nights.
Hours earlier, citizens had reported protests with pots and pans in streets near the provincial headquarters of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) in Santiago. Reports placed the protests on Escario and San Miguel streets, in the city center, amidst power outages that, according to residents' complaints, can last up to 22 hours a day.
The growing unrest is set against the backdrop of the worsening national electricity crisis. The outage of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant and the high generation deficits have caused widespread power cuts across the country, a situation that has heightened social tensions in several provinces.
The reported protests in recent hours suggest that discontent is no longer confined to eastern Cuba. What happened in Santos Suárez shows that frustration over blackouts, shortages, and deteriorating living conditions continues to spread to the capital, where more and more citizens are publicly expressing their weariness with a crisis that seems to have no resolution in sight.
Filed under: