Massive blackouts trigger citywide demonstrations across Havana as residents denounce the Castro regime’s failures amid deepening shortages and repression.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
At least six neighborhoods in Havana erupted in anti-communist protests late Monday into early Tuesday, with crowds shouting “down with communism!” and “freedom!” while confronting Cuban state security forces, according to independent Cuban outlets including Cubanet.
The demonstrations followed a 15-hour blackout that left much of the capital in darkness. Once shielded from the island’s power failures to preserve tourism revenue, Havana has now been drawn into the country’s worsening energy crisis. Chronic neglect of Cuba’s power grid and lack of investment have devastated infrastructure, driving tourism revenue sharply downward.
Residents in the neighborhoods of Marianao, Regla, Alamar, Diez de Octubre, San Miguel del Padrón, and La Lisa took to the streets, banging pots and pans, lighting bonfires, and recording protests on fading phone batteries. Videos compiled by Diario de Cuba appeared to show confrontations between police and residents hurling bottles, with chants of “down with Díaz-Canel!” echoing through the streets. In Diez de Octubre, the local Catholic Church joined demonstrators by ringing its bells in solidarity.
Journalist José Raúl Gallego reported that regime security forces hesitated to suppress the protests, noting that many officers face the same scarcity of food and supplies as the citizens they were ordered to disperse.
The official Communist Party newspaper Granma acknowledged the severe electricity shortages but blamed the crisis on “a convergence of factors” such as lack of fuel and generator failures. While the outlet promised a “long-term” solar energy expansion, it simultaneously boasted about digitalizing millions of registry files — a claim widely mocked amid rolling blackouts.
According to the Cuban Observatory of Conflict, November saw a record 1,326 protests across the island, up nearly 100 from the previous month. Human rights group Prisoners Defenders reported 1,192 verified political prisoners as of the end of November — the highest figure in years — as the regime intensifies repression to quell dissent.
“Repression in Cuba continues to increase as a mechanism sustained by the regime to obscure the ocean of political, social, and sanitary crises,” Prisoners Defenders stated, describing a population driven to desperation by blackouts, hunger, and collapsing public services.
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