Neighbors from La Loma de Chicharrones and San Pablo took to the streets to demand the restoration of the service. Strong militarization soon reached the areas.
MADRID, Spain.- Various neighborhoods in Santiago de Cuba registered demonstrations this Monday due to the prolonged power outages that have persisted since the passage of Hurricane Melissa. These events add to the protests that occurred on Sunday in other areas of the province. The mobilizations, documented by independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada, took place in vulnerable communities where residents report institutional abandonment and a growing deterioration in living conditions.
The most visible mobilization occurred in La Loma de Chicharrones, where neighbors “decided to take to the street and demand the immediate restoration of electricity.” Mayeta reported in a post on Facebook. The residents, affected by 20 days without power, blocked the area until the arrival of police officers and vehicles from the Electric Company. The journalist pointed out that the institutional response came only after the protest began, and there was no confirmation that the service was fully restored.
In a later update, Mayeta reported a heavy police presence in Micro 9, Altamira and Ciudamar, following reports of demonstrations in those areas.
Hours later, the focus of tension moved to San Pablo neighborhoodin the José Martí district, where dozens of residents took to the streets to demand electricity and denounce the conditions in which they have lived since the hurricane. The area was quickly militarized and patrols and cage cars arrived with the aim of containing the protesters.
A resident identified as Ana Eglis Sánchez Cutiño described the situation in the neighborhood on social media, stating that neighbors remained gathered in front of the Renato Guitart civil construction school. He pointed out that this is a vulnerable community, also affected by an epidemiological crisis, and that they have been without power for more than 20 days, in addition to living with hunger, misery and homes damaged by the hurricane.
Sunday protests in Altamira and Mar Verde
Monday’s demonstrations occurred a day after other neighborhoods in the province staged protests for similar reasons. on sundayresidents of the Altamira neighborhood blocked roads and demanded the presence of the authorities after spending several days without electricity. The families reported that they continued to live among mosquitoes, cooking with charcoal and caring for the elderly, children and sick people in the midst of a serious epidemiological situation.
During the protest, protesters prevented an Electric Company vehicle from leaving the area without offering a solution. Although two police patrols arrived, the presence of the agents did not disperse the people, who demanded to be reconnected and questioned why their sector was still dark while other streets in the same circuit recovered service days before.
In the El Carmen neighborhood, in Mar Verde, residents closed traffic for almost an hour to demand electricity, water and humanitarian assistance. According to the testimonies released, the community had been without basic services for days and without the presence of local authorities.
Growing discomfort
These protests occur in a scenario of growing social unrest in several provinces of the country, especially in the east, where blackouts have extended for hours or even days after the passage of Hurricane Melissa. More than 85 percent of eastern Cuba remains without electricity; water and food are also scarce; all this in the midst of an out-of-control health crisis.
