MIAMI, United States. – The Minister of Energy and Mines of Cuba, Vicente de la O Levy, described this Sunday as “minimal incidents” the demonstrations that occurred in the country after the massive blackout that began last Friday.
Furthermore, during a press conference with international mediaDe la O Levy described the protests as “indecent” and referred to the participants as “the coward who does not reason and the one who sells out.”
As revealed in videos on social networks, multiple banging of pots and pans and peaceful protests were occurring during the night of October 19. The demonstrations were concentrated mainly in the provinces of Havana and Santiago de Cuba.
A shared video on Facebook by activist Juan Moreno, director of the community media Havana Dawn, from the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP), shows dozens of Cubans who stopped traffic on San Francisco de Paula, a capital street, and made pots and pans sound.
Other published material by independent journalist Daniel Benítez reports on another protest in which Cubans banged pots and pans during this Saturday night in Lawton.
Likewise, very close to that town, in Santo Suarez, Havana residents also made noises with pots and cauldrons, as can be heard in a video shared by CubaNet in X (formerly Twitter).
Consequently, according to the EFE news agency, an increase in police presence has been noted in Havana, with agents located at the main intersections of the city and patrols patrolling the streets.
Cuba has been facing an energy crisis for years that has intensified in recent weeks due to fuel shortages – a result of the lack of foreign currency to import it – and breakdowns in the obsolete thermoelectric plants of Soviet origin.
Before Friday of last week, the maximum impact rate exceeded 50% of electricity demandwhich means that half of the country was simultaneously without supply due to insufficient energy production capacity on the Island.
Then on Friday the “total disconnection” of the National Electroenergy System (SEN) occurred after the departure of the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant, which left the entire country in darkness for 72 hours.
The long blackouts not only deteriorate the economic performance of Cuba, which has been mired in a serious crisis for years, but have also been the trigger for anti-government protests. The most notable ones occurred on July 11, 2021the largest in decades, and the most recent (before this weekend) took place on March 17 in Santiago de Cuba and other locations.
