Havana, Cuba. Protests broke out across Havana on Wednesday evening as the city faced its worst rolling blackouts in decades amid a U.S. blockade that has reduced fuel supplies to the island.
Demonstrations across neighborhoods
Crowds of hundreds gathered in several outlying neighborhoods, blocking roads with burning piles of rubbish, banging pots, and shouting “Turn on the lights!” and “The people, united, will never be defeated!”
Reuters reported witnessing multiple groups of peaceful protesters across the city, in what it described as the largest single night of demonstrations in Havana since the energy crisis began.
Blackouts worsen amid policy pressure
Shortages and blackouts have worsened since January, when U.S. President Donald Trump imposed an embargo and threatened tariffs on any nation supplying Cuba with fuel, saying he wanted to oust Cuba’s communist-run government.
Residents cite prolonged outages
Havana resident Rodolfo Alonso said he decided to protest after his Playa neighborhood went more than 40 hours without electricity.
“I live in a community where there are lots of older people, many of them bed-ridden. Our food is spoiling,” Alonso, a state worker, said. “We started banging pots to see if they’d give us just three hours of electricity. That’s all we want. This isn`t a political problem.”
In several cases, Reuters reported seeing power return in areas where protests were taking place, prompting men, women and children to cheer and then quickly disperse.
Police presence and living conditions
Reuters described a heavy police presence at each site, with security forces largely observing and not intervening.
Irailda Bravo, 38, said she joined a peaceful protest in Marianao after sleeping on her doorstep for days because of the heat.
“We know that the situation in the country is chaotic. But we have young kids. We have to work. We have a life. We need to rest, and we can`t,” she said.
How have the prolonged blackouts affected your daily life?
