Dozens of residents from the Havana municipality of Regla took to the streets this Thursday to demand the restoration of electrical service after more than 24 hours without electricity, according to reported CubaNet.
The protest began at the intersection of Maceo and Facciolo streets, where a group of neighbors, mostly women, banged on pots and pans while demanding better living conditions.
The community has been without electricity since Wednesday, amid high temperatures that make it difficult to preserve food, pump water, and carry out the most basic household activities.
One of the most striking images of the day was that of a mother pushing the wheelchair of her teenage daughter with cerebral palsy.
The young woman took part in the pot-banging protest, striking a pot with a spoon as she moved along with the other demonstrators.
“Enough of trampling on human life,” shouted one of the mothers who blocked the street according to the report from CubaNet.
The slogan that was repeated most passionately during the demonstration was: "We want to sleep with light; we want to live like human beings."
The neighbors also sang the national anthem as they marched.
Several local authorities arrived at the scene to try to calm the situation, including the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) in Regla.
The protesters rejected the official explanations and made it clear that they would not accept any more promises without concrete solutions.
After the initial clanging of pots and pans, the crowd moved to the municipal headquarters of the PCC, where they continued to voice their demands.
What came next further exacerbated the situation.
According to the report from resident Nelson Vázquez on Facebook, the authorities restored the electricity supply for just ten minutes—long enough for the repressive forces to arrive—only to cut it off again, leaving residents without service for a total of 48 hours.
Vázquez described the deployment of "every police force present in the capital," including specialized motorcycle units and high-ranking officials, and also reported the cutting of internet connections in the area.
"Now anyone who goes out to complain will be strongly repressed and they will not allow the current to flow," Vázquez warned in his post.
Regla is not an isolated case. On Wednesday, neighbors of La Lisa protested in front of the PCC after more than 50 hours without electricity or water, and in El Cerro, the pot-banging protests on Primelles Street triggered a strong police operation.
The municipality of Regla itself had already staged daytime protests with pots and pans on June 20 due to more than 30 consecutive hours without electricity, with the electrical substations of Regla and Melones out of service.
The energy crisis fueling these protests is structural. The generation deficit reached a historic record of 2,208 MW on June 25, leaving about 70% of the country without electricity simultaneously.
The aging thermoelectric plants, fuel shortages, and decades of neglected infrastructure explain a collapse that the regime has been unable to reverse.
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