Juan Carlos González Leiva, lawyer, human rights activist, and blind since the age of 21, reported in a video shared on social media that he has been without water in his home for over three years and that Cuban authorities threaten to imprison him if he tries to solve the problem on his own.
In the audio, González Leiva explains that, in the face of the State's inaction, he chose to install a water connection to the supply network on his own (known in Cuba as a "water thief"), just as other neighbors have done. The regime's response was not to resolve the water supply issue, but to warn him that they would send the police to arrest him and set up surveillance in front of his home.
"Everyone has put in their water, their water thieves. I have no water here, so we are doing it by our own means, sacrificing ourselves. The government neither resolves the issue for you nor allows you to resolve it yourself. They say they called the police to arrest me, and I will confront the police because I am not afraid of anyone. Down with Fidel! Long live a free Cuba! Down with communism!" declared the activist.
González Leiva was born in 1965 in Colorado, Ciego de Ávila province, and lost his sight completely at the age of 21. Nevertheless, he completed his law degree at the University of Havana in 1996. In 1998, he founded the Fraternity of Independent Blind People of Cuba and the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights and presides over the Council of Human Rights Reporters of Cuba.
Its history of repression is extensive. He was arrested in March 2002 during a peaceful protest in Ciego de Ávila, beaten, and held incommunicado. In April 2004, a court sentenced him to four years of house arrest on charges of contempt, public disorder, and resistance.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared his case as arbitrary detention, and Amnesty International recognized him as a prisoner of conscience. In 2013, the same organization reported death threats against him and his wife, Tania Maceda Guerra.
The report comes amid an unprecedented water crisis in Cuba: in September 2025, more than 3.1 million Cubans—about 30% of the population—were suffering from total or partial water shortages. In May 2026, the government itself admitted that 2.7 million people lacked adequate access to water supply.
The scarcity has triggered a wave of street protests. July 2026 ended with a record of 1,415 protests, complaints, or critical expressions, according to the Cuban Conflict Observatory.
The regime's response has been repressive: four young people were arrested in Sibanicú after protesting the lack of water, and at least 24 people were detained in Luyanó at the beginning of July.
The case of González Leiva is not the only one involving a person with visual impairment. On August 17, a blind man was seen protesting alone on a street in Havana, hitting a kitchen utensil and shouting slogans against the dictatorship.
The situation of the activist starkly illustrates the double punishment imposed by the regime: it does not guarantee water, but also prevents citizens from obtaining it by their own means. Those who attempt to do so face fines, police surveillance, and threats of detention.
In the first half of 2026, the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights recorded 1,949 repressive actions, with 257 arbitrary detentions, in a context where protests in Cuba have not ceased since July 2021.
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