The ongoing power outage, which began Wednesday, has sparked protests in the Cuban cities of Havana and Matanzas. Videos shared on social media showed Cubans on the streets banging on pots and pans in the dark, expressing their frustration with the current situation.
This form of protest, which often occurred in direct response to power outages, has been used several times over the past few years as the island’s economic situation has worsened.
The crisis is worsening due to current sanctions resulting from a US blockade of oil imports to the island. As poverty and crime rise, health and education systems are increasingly collapsing.
Protests on the island have historically been rare, but have steadily increased in frequency since the so-called 11J protests, large-scale demonstrations that erupted across the island in July 2021. In these protests, Cubans expressed anger over economic conditions, medicine shortages, the response to COVID-19, and government restrictions on freedoms.
Some videos of the current protests in Havana include captions such as “Enough is enough! Down with everything!” and “Liberty, overthrow tyranny!” indicate that frustration with shortages has a political dimension.
Cuban protesters who are explicitly anti-government tend to face considerable risk. The 11J protests resulted in the detention of 1,500 protesters, and the NGO Prisoners Defenders reported that the number of political prisoners in Cuba reached a record high of 1,207 in January 2026, with 18 more people jailed in January alone.
One Havana businessman, who requested anonymity for his safety, said: Latin America Report He said the protests were “completely justified” considering many people had been without power for more than 24 hours.
Protesters “covered their faces and went out at night to avoid being detained during the day,” the entrepreneur explained. He also suggested that the Cuban state’s ability to suppress protests is diminishing, despite reports from the aforementioned NGOs.
“To oppress people requires an active army, fuel and money. No one wants to be a soldier anymore. This comes with a high social price. Everyone is against you and pays you a huge price,” he added.
Despite the businessman’s speculations about a decline in the state’s coercive power, tightening U.S. sanctions on the island and U.S. threats of regime change have raised concerns about a possible increase in crackdowns on anti-government dissent.
Abel Tablada, a professor at the Polytechnic University of Havana, was reportedly banned from teaching earlier this month over a Facebook post highlighting the difficulties facing university students and professors in the country.
Tablada criticized the “Trump administration’s cruel sanctions” but warned that there was a risk that Cuba’s resilience would become a kind of acceptance of “conditions that should not be prolonged.”
Tablada explained the nature of these “conditions” in his post: “Professors who live only on a salary of $10-15USD per month have more material problems at home related to food, family, or transportation.”
Tablada said in a Whatsapp message that his post “did not receive a positive response from the university administration,” and hinted that such opposition led to his dismissal.
Featured image: Havana protests, July 2021
Image source: 14YMedio via Wikimedia Commons
patent: Creative Commons License
