Residents of the Havana neighborhood of El Fanguito blocked 23rd Street—one of the main thoroughfares in Havana—on Wednesday night as a form of protest after enduring more than 48 hours without electricity, water, or gas.
In the images of the protest, shared on social media by the activist and Cuban musician El Funky (@elfunkycuba), a large number of people can be seen sitting in the middle of the road, blocking traffic.
The voice of a neighbor can be heard stopping a motorcyclist: "Turn around, turn around, we've been without power for more than 24 hours, and there are children here crying. Turn around, turn around."
El Funky described the scene with these words: “In the Fanguito neighborhood, they closed 23rd Street as a form of protest after enduring more than 48 hours without electricity, water, and gas. Desperation is growing as families face increasingly difficult conditions, with no answers to a situation that impacts their daily lives.”
In a second video, the presence of the police in the protest area is observed. A high-ranking official from the Ministry of the Interior attempts to engage in dialogue with the protesters to persuade them to leave, but the individuals refused to abandon the site.
The moment when a lineman from the Electric Company restored the service is also noteworthy, and the crowd starts to cheer joyfully as the streets light up. A neighbor's voice can be heard saying, "See? It wasn't that hard. How shameless!"
Reactions to the images of the protest
The post, tagged with the hashtag #cubaestadofallido, gathered over 800 comments in just a few hours. Among the most notable reactions was that of Cuban boxer Yordenis Ugás (@yordenis_ugas), who wrote: "What an abuse, brother."
The Cuban-American congressman Carlos Giménez was more direct: "DOWN WITH THE DICTATORSHIP." The actress Ángela Lemus expressed: "I love these women, it hurts me to see what Cubans are going through."
Several comments pointed out that it was primarily women who took the lead in the action. "It's always the women who have the guts." "Women are standing up. Where are the handsome men now?" asked another user.
Protests and Blackouts: A Summer of Despair in Havana
The neighborhood of El Fanguito belongs to the El Carmelo Popular Council and is located on the banks of the Almendares River. It is situated in the Plaza de la Revolución municipality, where La Timba and Vedado have also been the scene of protests this 2026.
On July 12, the pots clanged in broad daylight in the same area. On March 23, the protests with the noise of pots reached the vicinity of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.
The Cuban Conflict Observatory (OCC) noted that 107 protests were recorded in Cuba in June, with Havana accounting for 82 of them. In April and May, the numbers were even higher: 1,133 and 1,311 protests, respectively.
The national electricity generation deficit reached 2,315 MW on July 23, affecting all provinces of the country without exception.
El Funky—stage name of Eliécer Márquez Duany, a rapper, member of the San Isidro Movement and co-author of "Patria y Vida"—uses his social media to document and denounce the situation on the island.
On July 26, activists specifically mentioned La Timba and El Fanguito as neighborhoods experiencing prolonged blackouts and increasing citizen pressure to restore the electricity service.
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