The island lives a wave of disagreement marked by blackouts of up to 30 hours, water and food crisis, rebound in violence and a collapsed health system.
Madrid, Spain.- The Cuban Observatory of Conflicts (OCC) registered in August 2025 a record of 1,023 protests, complaints and civic actions throughout the island, the highest figure in its history. The report It reveals a 32 % increase compared to the same month last year and 17 % compared to June, showing a sustained increase in popular discontent against deterioration of living conditions.
The greatest number of claims (286) was concentrated in the category of public services, especially for the prolonged ones blackouts up to 30 hours and the growing shortage of drinking water. These shortcomings motivated several protests in the streets that, in some cases, achieved immediate responses, although they also resulted in arrests. “Without water, without current, the food spoiling. They are killing us little by little,” denounced the mother Yosleydis Rodríguez Rodríguez In Camagüey, cited by the report.
Citizen insecurity shot with 166 protests and complaints, twice as much in July. The OSC documented 28 violent deaths, including femicides and murders For robberies, in addition to 14 disappearances and a 57 % increase in crimes of Latrocinio. Testimonies collected point to armed gangs that act with impunity, sometimes tolerated by the police itself.
The public health crisis also generated a strong rebound in complaints (104). The population reacted with indignation to the announcement that Cuba has sent more than 600,000 medical collaborators abroad, while on the island doctors, medications and supplies are scarce. The report includes that hospitals in several provinces present unhealthy conditions and lack of basic resources, while epidemics such as Dengue and Chikungunya expand without control.
In terms of food, 92 reports presented situations of extreme hunger: families eating from garbage, elders begging bread and mothers unable to feed their children. Although the Government announced that the average salary reached 6,649 pesos (about $ 16), independent calculations indicate that only basic feeding requires about 30,000 pesos per capita per month.
Other sections of the report include 71 complaints of social problems such as suicides of adolescents, child labor and prostitution forced by the crisis. 43 incidents linked to housing were also reported, with at least eight Landslings of buildings that left two dead and several injured.
The West concludes that in August the citizen discomfort was expressed in all the provinces of Cuba, with Havana as an epicenter (367 protests). The balance reflects a society increasingly hit by precariousness, violence and repression, but also more determined to make its claims visible despite the cost of facing the State.
