Dozens of residents of Centro Habana took to the streets on Tuesday night to protest against the power outages with a pot-banging demonstration in front of the Lázaro Peña theater, in the Cayo Hueso neighborhood, and continued the protest even after the authorities restored electricity in the area.
In a video shared with our editorial team, residents are seen banging pots in the street while chanting slogans that go beyond the demand for electricity.
"We want freedom, not oppression," several protesters can be heard shouting, who also chanted slogans such as "Freedom!", "Wounded homeland!" and "Homeland and Life!".
According to the images, the electricity supply returned when the protest had already gained momentum, a response that residents and activists have pointed out on other occasions as a strategy used by the authorities to defuse demonstrations triggered by power outages.
However, the return of electricity did not put an end to the banging of pots and pans. The protesters continued to strike their cookware for several minutes before dispersing.
Protests in various locations in Havana
The mobilization in Centro Habana was part of another night of protests in various municipalities of the capital.
Cacerolazos were also reported in Alamar, where residents set piles of garbage on fire to block a roadway; in La Hata, a municipality of Guanabacoa; as well as in Jaimanitas and Arroyo Arenas.
In La Hata, residents of shelters protested near buildings designated for military use, denouncing the stark contrast between the conditions of those facilities —with gardens, lighting, and better finishes— and the temporary homes where numerous families remain.
An energy crisis fueling discontent
The protests are occurring amid the severe electricity crisis that Cuba is facing.
On July 6, the island experienced its seventh total collapse of the National Electric System in just 18 months and the third in 2026, following the shutdown of Unit 6 at the Nuevitas thermoelectric power plant in Camagüey.
Although the system was synchronized again during the early hours of Wednesday, generation continues to be well below demand. By Wednesday morning, availability barely reached 1,000 MW compared to a demand of 2,750 MW, while during peak hours, the Electric Union forecasted a deficit exceeding 2,000 MW.
The prolonged blackouts are affecting the entire country. In some areas of Matanzas, outages are reported to exceed 87 consecutive hours, while in Granma there are localities with over 72 hours without service. In Havana, daily cuts last around 15 hours, according to official reports and citizen complaints.
The crisis is worsening due to the fuel shortage. Cuba has gone several months without receiving new shipments of oil, and its domestic production, estimated at about 40,000 barrels per day, is well below the 90,000 to 110,000 barrels that the country needs to sustain its power generation system.
Social protest is growing
The increase in power outages has been accompanied by a rise in protests.
According to the Cuban Conflict Observatory, 107 street protests were recorded on the island in June, the highest monthly figure documented by that organization, with 82 occurring in Havana.
In a recent interview granted to the Puerto Rican weekly CLARIDAD, Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged that Cuba is facing "a shortage of transportation, food, and medications" as well as "prolonged blackouts of more than twenty hours." Nevertheless, he once again attributed the crisis to the U.S. embargo and urged Cubans: "Bang your pots for the neighbors up north, who are the ones keeping us in this blackout."
The images released from Centro Habana show that, for many protesters, the demonstrations are no longer limited to demanding the restoration of electricity service, but rather express a broader discontent with the situation in the country.
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