Cuba recorded a historic high of 107 street protests in June 2026, almost doubling the previous maximum of 54 in-person demonstrations counted in March, according to data from the Cuban Conflict Observatory presented by Rolando Cartaya, journalist and project director at the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba.
Havana accounted for the majority of the outbreaks: of the 107 protests, 82 occurred in the capital and 18 in Santiago de Cuba, making both cities the epicenters of a mobilization that is unprecedented in the monthly records of the Observatory.
"Since the record of in-person protests we had in March, which was 54, well, now in June it practically doubled. There were 107 street protests, with people shouting 'freedom,' shouting 'intervention now,' burning garbage in the streets to create barricades, and of course, banging pots and pans," Cartaya explained in an interview with Tania Costa, in CiberCuba.
The main trigger was the electrical crisis. Power outages in Havana reached 48 consecutive hours during June, while in Matanzas they lasted for 87 continuous hours. On June 25, the generation deficit hit a historical record of 2,208 MW, leaving 70% of the country without electricity at the same time.
"Blackouts are the most explosive factor, indeed. You can't sleep because of the heat, the mosquitoes, you can't cook, you can't store food, and this drives people, during blackouts that in Havana have lasted up to 48 hours, to take to the streets," Cartaya noted.
Protest methods included banging pots and pans, burning trash and tires to build barricades, and slogans such as "Freedom" and "Intervention now." The last demonstration of the month took place on June 30 in La Lisa, where residents went directly to the headquarters of the Communist Party.
The profile of those who took to the streets is surprising in its composition, commented journalist Tania Costa. "What we are seeing in the protests are women and children. I don't know where the tough guys of Cuba have gone, because those who are out protesting, every time we see, especially in 10 de Octubre, El Cerro, El Bahía... What we are seeing are teenagers, women, and children," she stated.
Parallel to the street eruption, the regime intensified the repression. The OCC compiled 135 records of repressive actions during the same month, in prisons and on the streets. Among the most visible measures was the deployment of the so-called "black berets" —the National Special Brigade of the Ministry of the Interior, experts in riot control— armed with long weapons on the streets of Santiago de Cuba.
The regime also resorted to civil informants who film the protesters to identify and detain them the next day, a tactic documented during the Morón protest. According to the organization Cubalex, 38 people were arrested for participating in the June protests; the OCC was able to identify 15 of them by name.
Cartaya warned that, despite the record, the figures remain insufficient to produce a real political change as long as the protests remain isolated and fade away once electricity is restored. He also pointed out ETECSA's monopoly on the internet as a key obstacle to citizen coordination, in contrast to the role connectivity played during the 11J protests in 2021, when 62 mass protests spread across the country.
"Even though there are many, 107 is still a small number considering the situation in Cuba. We still do not see that July 11 again. In other words, after witnessing one July 11, 107 isolated protests that calm down when the power is restored will not grant us freedom," concluded Costa.
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