Residents of the municipality of Regla, in Havana, banged pots and pans all day this Saturday in protest against the extended power outages affecting the area, where the outages have exceeded 30 consecutive hours without electricity.
A social media video accessed by CiberCuba showcased the daytime symphony of cauldrons.
The demonstration is part of an especially intense day of protests in the Cuban capital, which included casserole protests on Carlos III Avenue, tire burning in San Miguel del Padrón and La Güinera, and a novel casserole protest in the "La Genética" neighborhood in Playa, historically inhabited by officials and scientists linked to the State.
In parallel, ETECSA implemented internet and mobile data outages in areas of Central Havana and Regla, coinciding with an increase in street activity, a tactic already documented since the protests of July 11, 2021.
It is not the first time that the residents of Regla have taken to the streets this June. On June 3, they closed Maceo Street after more than 24 hours without power; on June 5, they blocked that thoroughfare again to demand water and electricity; on June 7, they protested in front of the Municipal Government with the chant "We want electricity!"; and on June 9, there was another demonstration on María Street.
A factor that exacerbates the specific situation of the municipality is that the Patanas de Regla and Melones —distributed generation units that supply the area— have been out of service during the periods of greatest impact.
The electrical crisis fueling these protests has reached historic levels. This Saturday, the Electric Union reported a capacity of only 950-1,016 MW compared to a demand of 2,570-2,650 MW, resulting in a deficit of between 1,620 and 2,081 MW.
In Havana, power outages have reached between 20 and 22 hours a day, with reports of more than 36 consecutive hours without electricity in some neighborhoods.
While multiple neighborhoods in the capital were protesting, the official Salvador Morales Ojeda posted on X that "Cuba is rising", a message widely interpreted as official propaganda disconnected from the reality that Cubans are facing in the streets.
The wave of protests in June has escalated in intensity compared to previous months. The Cuban Observatory of Conflicts recorded 1,311 protests in May 2026 across Cuba, with electricity being the main trigger, and in some areas, the slogans have shifted from demanding electricity and food to including "down with the dictatorship."
The regime has responded with a police deployment, arrests, and internet outages. At least 14 people have been detained in Havana since March 6, 2026, in the context of protests related to power outages, and on May 14, the police brutally repressed demonstrators in Playa during a similar day of pot-banging protests.
Filed under: