Reports circulated on Monday night by the independent platform 'NiO Reportando Un Crimen' describe a tense situation in the Estrada Palma area of Santa Clara, Villa Clara, where residents reportedly took to the streets, closed several roads, and prompted a deployment of police forces.
According to the reports received by NiO, «neighbors have taken to the streets and closed several roads» while «several streets remain blocked» and the presence of people continues at certain points in the area known as El Condado, a neighborhood and popular council located on the southern outskirts of the city.
The platform specified that, at the time of publication, it had not been able to determine what caused the concentration, whether any arrests were made, or the exact scale of the police operation. This editorial team has not been able to independently verify the information.
The images accompanying the reports depict nighttime scenes with fire on the roadway—possibly barricades—and groups of people gathered on the sidewalks in what appears to be that area of the city.
Residents' comments on NiO's post highlight prolonged blackouts as the main trigger. "I live on the next block and those people have been without power for about a week due to 'supposedly' a fault that has not been resolved. And the worst part is that this is already the second time in less than 15 days," wrote a resident whose identity the platform pledged to keep confidential for security reasons.
Another neighbor broadened the perspective: "In El Condado, there has been no electricity during the day for 5 months; no business can thrive, it's not easy." A third commentator described the issue as a constant "take away and put back" that "breaks all the equipment," which has been acknowledged, he said, by the electric company itself.
There were discrepancies among the commentators themselves: some claimed that the circuit had been without supply for seven days, while another pointed out that power had been received at dawn and in the afternoon of the same day, although he admitted that a specific breakdown in some block could explain the difference.
The episode occurs against the backdrop of an escalating electricity crisis in Villa Clara. On September 18, the eighth total disconnection of the National Electric System for the year was recorded, attributed to a successive failure in the Matanzas-Cienfuegos and Matanzas-Santa Clara lines, with a gradual restoration just days before the events reported in Estrada Palma.
Santa Clara and its neighborhood El Condado have a recent history of protests due to power outages. In June, residents of that area held cacerolazos for blackouts lasting up to 20 hours a day, and activist Andy García Lorenzo was arrested at the end of August after disseminating images of those protests.
Nationally, 2026 has been the year with the highest number of protests since July 11, 2021. According to data from the Cuban Conflict Observatory (OCC), July set a historical record with 1,415 protests, complaints, and critical expressions recorded.
NiO Reporting a Crime indicated that it will continue to gather information and that those in the area can privately contact the platform, ensuring that it will not publish data that could endanger its sources.
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