For some Cubans, already suffering from the shortage of food, fuel and medicinethe prolonged blackout was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
George Louis Cruz, from the El Cerro neighborhood in Havana, was at the door of his house on Thursday night banging on a metal pot and screaming with rage. In the surrounding streets, dozens of people could be heard banging pots and pans from terraces and rooftops in the dark.
“This is not working, enough is enough,” he told Reuters. “all my food is rotten. Why? Because we don’t have electricity.” The man commented that his family didn’t want him to go out on the street for fear they would take him to jail. “Take me away,” he said.
A Reuters journalist confirmed the existence of cacerolazos and small groups peacefully protesting in the streets in other areas of Havana.
Reports on social media also showed small protests throughout Cuba’s capital, and in some provinces, from Thursday afternoon to early Friday.
Increasingly frequent protests in Cuba
The Internet, mobile and landline communications seemed to drop throughout Havana shortly before 9:00 p.m. local time and remained that way for six hours. It was not clear why communications had been dropped. The Cuban government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the situation.
Protests in the streets of communist Cuba are very rare. On July 11 of last year, anti-government concentrations, the largest since the revolution of the former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in 1959, they shook the island.
Police have detained more than 1,000 people, according to estimates by human rights groups, and hundreds of protesters remain in jail, according to official figures.
The Cuban government affirms that the people it imprisoned were judged fairly and declared guilty of vandalism, assault and, in some cases, sedition. However, human rights groups say they were subjected to sham trials and unfairly imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of expression and protest.
The return of electricity, in installments
Authorities had announced earlier on Thursday progress in restoring electricity in Havana, where the lights were turned on again in different neighborhoods. Nevertheless, parts of the city, outlying provinces, and vast swathes of western Cuba remained dark.
The sweltering temperatures and abundant mosquitoes – combined with the dengue threat– Their nerves were on edge.
“It’s all a lie, they don’t get anything. We still don’t have electricity and nobody tells us why,” said Tiare Rodríguez, 54, a resident of Havana’s 10 de Octubre neighborhood. He had joined a small group banging pots and moving down the street, too hot to stay in his house.
“Our food is being wasted, our children’s milk has been lost. Who will replace it?” he asked. “No one”.
Source: Ambito
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