Residents of the Mantilla area in the Havana municipality of Arroyo Naranjo staged a protest this Sunday due to the lack of drinking water by blocking traffic on one of the main roads, as shown in videos and images shared on Facebook by user Radimir Galán Rodríguez.
The images from the video show a group of 20 to 30 people lined up with buckets and pails, while a voice encourages them to take action: "Go to the roadway and block the traffic! Block the traffic on the roadway! No water! We are hungry!".
A voice in the recording notes the presence of children among the protesters and describes the situation as a "lack of respect."
Another user who shared the images accompanied the post with the message: "Down with the dictatorship... freedom. They deserve to live with dignity."
Mantilla is no stranger to this type of mobilization. The neighborhood went seven consecutive days without potable water in June, when the arrival of a water truck triggered scenes of desperation with neighbors rushing with buckets and tanks.
The water scarcity in the area has a direct cause. Eighty-seven percent of the water supply system in Cuba relies on the electrical grid, so power outages render the distribution pumps inoperable.
At the end of June, over 376,000 people in Havana lacked regular access to drinking water, according to official data.
The situation in Arroyo Naranjo has been deteriorating for years. Since 2019, Aguas de La Habana had already reduced the service to a delivery every four days in that municipality and in Boyeros, areas that rely on electric pumping.
The protest in Mantilla is part of a wave of demonstrations that analysts believe to be the most extensive since July 11, 2021. In May alone, there were 1,311 protests recorded nationwide, the highest monthly figure since that uprising, according to the Cuban Observatory of Conflicts, and Cubalex documented an additional 109 protests during June.
In the days leading up to this, residents of Zamora protested after more than 24 hours without electricity and days without water; residents of La Lisa stood in front of the PCC headquarters after more than 50 hours without electricity; and neighbors in Regla took to the streets with pots and pans and also marched to the municipal PCC headquarters.
The energy collapse fueling these protests reached a new critical threshold this Sunday. The Electric Union projected a record deficit of 2,230 MW during the peak nighttime hours, with nine out of the country's 16 thermal power units out of service.
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