Protests rock Havana amid power cuts

• Blackouts of up to 22 hours a day across parts of Havana
• Multiple protests reported across the Cuban capital
• Protesters say lack of power is making it impossible to rest

Protests broke out across the Cuban capital of Havana on Wednesday evening as the city confronted its worst rolling blackouts in decades amid a US blockade that has starved the island of fuel.

Crowds of hundreds of angry Cubans poured onto the streets in several outlying neighborhoods, blocking roads with burning piles of rubbish, banging pots and shouting “Turn on the lights!” and “The people, united, will never be defeated!”

Reuters witnessed multiple groups of peaceful protesters in locations across the city, marking the largest single night of demonstrations in Havana since the energy crisis took hold.

The shortages and blackouts have dramatically worsened since January when US President Donald Trump, who has said he wants to oust Cuba’s communist-run government, imposed an embargo and threatened tariffs on any nation supplying the country with fuel.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Cuba’s leadership must change as Washington renewed an offer on Wednesday of $100 million in aid if the communist-run island agrees to cooperate, reports AFP.

Cuba is open to reviewing a $100 million US aid proposal, Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said yesterday.

Havana resident Rodolfo Alonso, shirtless and sweating, said he had decided to protest after his neighborhood of Playa went for more than 40 hours without electricity.

“I live in a community where there are lots of older people, many of them bed-ridden. Our food is spoiling,” said Alonso, a state worker. “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.”

In several cases, Reuters witnessed power return to an area where a protest was taking place, prompting the crowds of men, women and children to cheer, then quickly disperse.

There was a heavy police presence at each site, though security forces remained largely on the sidelines, observing and not intervening. Irailda Bravo, 38, said she had decided to join a peaceful protest in Marianao after sleeping on her doorstep for days, forced out of her home by the heat.

The renewed power cuts in Havana and beyond come as the US blockade on fuel imports to Cuba enters its fourth month, crippling public services across the Caribbean island of nearly 10 million people.

The United Nations last week called Trump’s fuel blockade unlawful, saying it had obstructed the “Cuban people’s right to development while undermining their rights to food, education, health, and water and sanitation.”

Cuba’s electricity generation is sustained by a network of eight aging thermoelectric plants -- some in operation for over 40 years -- that suffer frequent breakdowns or must be shut down for maintenance cycles.