Hundreds of Cubans took to the streets this Sunday in the province of Santiago de Cuba, in the east of the island, to protest the lack of electricity and food shortages.
Although there have been other demonstrations of discontent in recent times, this is probably the largest protest that has taken place since those of July 11 and 12, 2021, when thousands of people came out to demand changes in the situation in the country, which three Years later it has only gotten worse.
That mobilization ended with hundreds of detainees.
Although some people from Santiago de Cuba claim that the Government has cut off mobile data services, as they did in the July protests to prevent them from reporting and spreading to other parts of the country, there are several videos that have been disseminated in social networks where hundreds of citizens are seen shouting in chorus the words “current” – in reference to the lack of electricity –, “food” and the phrase “Homeland and Life”, which became an anthem during the previous protests.
The images show a crowd of people concentrated on the central Carretera del Morro Avenue and 9th Street in Veguita de Galo.
Cuban Evelyn Suñe, who lives in the Micro 3 neighborhood, says that they have been without electricity for up to 18 hours in recent days.
“They turn on the light for three hours and turn it off again.
So the cause of these protests is social discontent, lack, lack of supplies.
“It is what is being asked for, that is why people shout current and food.”
According to Suñe, in her neighborhood several people also demonstrated on March 13 for the same reasons.
Images of peaceful protests emerge in #SantiagoDeCuba 🇨🇺
Government of @DiazCanelB has the obligation to protect the right to protest.
The violent repression that his government always resorts to should not be tolerated by the international community
pic.twitter.com/aQrDfAJZ7N
— Erika Guevara Rosas (@ErikaGuevaraR) March 17, 2024
At the moment, it is unknown if the Government has stopped the protest or if there are people imprisoned, as happened in 2021, when Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said that “the order of combat” was given, so that the “ “revolutionaries” faced the population.
More than 1,400 people were arrested then, and many were convicted, with up to 20 years in prison.
Another resident of Santiago de Cuba, who asked to remain anonymous, says that although her neighborhood on Gasómetro and Indio Street is “quiet,” protests are taking place very close by.
She also reports that the protesters had gone to the headquarters of the Cuban Communist Party to protest.
“There really is no one who can take this anymore.
Here nothing reaches the butcher shop, there is no food, there is no milk for the children.
We are in the dark all day, they turn off the power all night and turn it on at six in the morning.
“If I was in good health, I would have joined the protest, because it is impossible to have the people like this.”
In recent days, small protests have been reported in other areas of the country, such as those that took place in the municipality of San Antonio de los Baños, in Artemisa, or in Cacocum, in Holguín, where several people took to the streets ringing cauldrons. in protest of the electricity service cuts.
There are already constant announcements from the National Electroenergetic System warning of electricity outages for several hours throughout Cuba, something that accelerates the discontent that the population is already burdened with due to the economic shortage that the country is experiencing.
Since the end of last year, Vicente de la O Levy, Minister of Energy and Mines, had announced on national television that there would be blackouts, in the midst of the withdrawal of fuel aid that partners such as Mexico and Venezuela sent to Cuba.
“We had to go out and buy almost the fuel for the day,” he said then.
And although the minister promised improvements, the truth is that there is no better outlook for Cubans.
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