Havana/After weeks of increasingly prolonged daily blackouts, reaching more than 24 hours in a row, residents of the Havana community of Valle Grande, in La Lisa, staged a protest early this Friday with banging pots and dozens of protesters in the streets.
According to neighbors 14ymediothe demonstration began around one in the morning, after 26 hours without electricity and without water supply, a situation that has been repeated daily for weeks. At that time, dozens of residents were still awake and talking in the streets, unable to sleep due to the heat. There was a moment of hope when power was restored and many ran home to collect water and recharge batteries, but the joy lasted only a few minutes before the blackout returned. It was then that, outraged, they went out into the street banging pots and pans and shouting slogans like: “Come on, get out, it’s an abuse!”
Protesters gathered in the dark streets while more neighbors joined the protest from different parts of the community. Others, from the balconies, also made their pots and pans ring, shouting: “What they have with the light is an abuse!” About 100 meters away, the access points of the Higher Institute of the Ministry of the Interior (Ismi) turned on their alarm lights. The center, in charge of training officers of that ministry – and pejoratively known in the neighborhood as “the police factory” – has its own photovoltaic park that allows it to avoid blackouts that affect the rest.
“Since before May 1, we have been suffering blackouts from the afternoon until the next day. How can we keep silent, because every day they put more hours of blackout on us”
The banging of pots and pans, whistling and shouting continued for about two hours, until the electrical service was restored around 3:30 in the morning. Shortly afterwards the water supply also returned. Although there were some brief interruptions, electricity remained stable for the rest of the morning. “If they dare to remove it, we will go out again,” several neighbors told 14ymedio.
A resident relates: “Since before May 1, we have been suffering blackouts from the afternoon until the next day. How can we keep silent, because every day they put more hours of blackout on us.”
Valle Grande has rarely been the scene of public protests. Neighbors consulted by 14ymedio They attribute this situation, in part, to the proximity of several military and State Security facilities. In the vicinity of the community is the infamous Valle Grande prison, known for holding some of the more than 1,200 Cuban political prisoners. The Empresa Militar Industrial Emilio Bárcenas Pier and Ismi tank bases are also located nearby.
“Where there is protest, there is more respect. That is to say, there are fewer hours without power,” said a resident of the neighborhood, frustrated by the poor neighborhood response to the prolonged blackouts. Residents claim that there was no police presence during the protest. The only visible reaction was the activation of the alarm lights at the Ismi access points.
“Where there is protest, there is more respect. That is, there are fewer hours without power”
Protests have multiplied in different parts of the country as the duration of the blackouts increases. Along with the summer heat, food spoils and disease-transmitting insects proliferate. In the writing of 14ymedio There are also long-term power outages, which affect the water supply and food preservation.
Valle Grande was not the only area of Havana – or the country – where protests were reported during the early hours of this Friday. In the municipality of Cotorro, a demonstration was also recorded with dozens of residents walking through the streets banging pots of water and chanting, as shown by several broadcast videos on social networks. According to testimonies published by users, electrical service was restored shortly after the start of the protest.
In the testimonies, a kind of collective discharge is also perceived, a mixture of anger with euphoria, for going out together on the street after so much time accumulating discomfort. People who for years identified themselves as close to the ruling party, even members of the Communist Party, say that this time they participated or supported the protests, something they had not done even during the demonstrations of July 11, 2021. They are small telltale signs of how unrest is beginning to cross the limits of repression.
According to the informative part of the Electrical Union (UNE), a deficit of 2,191 megawatts (MW) was reported yesterday at 8:40 p.m. No improvements are expected for this Friday night. With nine thermoelectric units out of service – among them the Antonio Guiteras plant, which has left the system on 14 occasions so far this year – and 1,203 MW out of service due to lack of fuel in distributed generation plants, an impact of 2,164 MW is estimated for the time of highest demand, compared to a national demand of 3,150 MW. This implies that not even a third of the country’s electricity needs will be covered during that time.
