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An elderly woman, with hearing difficulties and supported by a crutch, walks through her neighborhood in Havana collecting signatures on a handwritten sheet in which she denounces the inequitable distribution of blackouts and demands justice from the electrical authorities.
The incident was reported on Facebook this Saturday by the internet user Javier Bobadilla, who described the moment when the woman stopped in front of his window and explained to him, "briefly and concisely," the content of her request.
"The text discusses the distribution of power outages, how some people mysteriously never lose electricity, and calls for justice," he noted.
The elderly woman was aware of the limited scope of her gesture. "She tells me she knows it's just for show; it's a symbolic action. She also knows perfectly well that we should ALL have electricity ALL THE TIME," Bobadilla wrote.
However, fear did not paralyze her. According to the account, she tried to write the text without "getting into politics," because, in her own words, "you know how that’s been down there." Even so, she went out on the street with a crutch, two sheets of paper, and a pen.
Bobadilla signed the petition with his full name and address. "It’s not that I mind that others have power and I don’t, but because, while there are 25 idiots on the corner who think they’re tough, sitting all day on the curb talking nonsense, this lady decided that if this was going to be her last fight, so be it," he explained.
He closed his post with a phrase that summed up the feelings of thousands: "They are losing their fear and learning to fight, and I would sign that even on a blank sheet of paper."
Bobadilla's post sparked a wave of reactions. "There are gestures that may seem small, but they carry immense significance. While many resign themselves or look the other way, this lady, with a crutch and more courage than strength, decided to raise her voice," wrote a user.
Another one was more direct: "Bravo for her, she is brave and understands that it's for pleasure; I would sign too, not for the redistribution of blackouts, but for their elimination. From those who cause them."
A reader compared the woman to the mothers of the Maceo, a historic symbol of female bravery in Cuba: "Brave and dignified, this lady carries Cuban blood; I see it in this gesture and it reminds me of Mariana Grajales."
Another comment summarized it precisely: "A gesture that could be normal in any country; in today's Cuba, it is an act of courage."
The story unfolds during a particularly intense day of protests in Havana. This Saturday, cacerolazos were held in the neighborhood known as La Genética in Playa, which were preceded a day earlier by expressions of social discontent in Carlos III as well as in San Miguel del Padrón and La Güinera, featuring tire burning and documented police repression.
In Havana, power outages now last between 20 and 24 continuous hours. In block 2 of Playa, a resident reported 40 consecutive hours without electricity while the block across the street slept with the lights on.
The complaint of the elderly woman is neither new nor isolated. In May, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero ordered to "distribute the blackouts better" in the capital, implicitly acknowledging the inequality that the citizens themselves document hour by hour.
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