People of the Cuban capital Havana stormed the streets on Wednesday evening as the city experienced its worst rolling blackouts in recent decades amid the ongoing U.S blockade on fuel reaching the country.
Crowds blocked roads by burning piles of rubbish, banging pots, and shouting “Turn on the lights!” and “The people, united, will never be defeated!”
Reuters reported multiple peaceful protests across the city. It is currently the largest single night of demonstartions in the capital since the beginning of the U.S-induced energy crisis.
Blackouts and shortages have worsened since January, when U.S President Donald Trump imposed an embargo and threatened tariffs on any country delivering oil to Cuba. Trump claimed he wanted to overthrow the nation’s communist government.
Havana resident Rodolfo Alonso told Reuters that his neighbourhood Playa suffered from a blackout of more than 40 hours.
“I live in a community where there are lots of older people, many of them bed-ridden. Our food ​is spoiling,” he 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.”
According to Reuters, many areas subjected to protests saw electricity coming back, allowing the crowds to finally return to their homes.
While police forces were present at the sites, they took on a passive role, observing the demonstrations.
Another protestor Irailda Bravo told the news agency that she had been sleeping on her doorstep for days after being forced out of her home due to the heat.
She said, “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.”
Cuba’s Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la told a state-run media that the nation had run out of diesel and fuel (oil), and that the power grid had entered a “critical” state.
The minister said the island nation continued negotiations to import fuel despite U.S sanctions but the global energy crisis triggered by the war in West Asia further complicated the situation.
Only one large oil tanker from Russia, the Anatoly Kolodkin, had sent fuel to Cuba since Trump’s threats.
The United Nations condemned Trump’s blockade last week, calling it unlawful and that it obstructed the “Cuban people’s right to development while undermining their rights to food, education, health, and water and sanitation.”
