The Cuban dictatorship has tightened censorship on the island and cut off the internet again as protests in Havana mount.

The mess you left behind Cuba The Hurricane Ian And the collapse of the electricity system, along with problems with water supply and telecommunications, is fueling latent discontent on the island after years of economic crisis.

Tonight, neighbors from different neighborhoods Havana Condemning the ongoing protest, it has decided to take to the streets again and protest Power outages There is already too much 72 continuous hours At various locations on the island.

Along with the lack of light, came dictatorship Miguel Diaz Canal Censorship tightened and Restricted internet access To prevent protests from spreading. However, demonstrations against the regime and the economic crisis quickly went viral on the networks.

Monitoring effort Netflix After 8:00 PM real-time network data showed internet connectivity There was a sudden cut in the island.

Chanting “Libertad, Libertad,” Cubans blocked some streets and municipalities in Havana and pushed back against the regime’s political police, demanding that internet service and electricity be restored.

The struggle started in the morning In La Palma and Calzada de BejugalIn the municipality Orange CreekAdded later Big bridgesIn Playa, there was no power for 72 hours, the newspaper reported 14 and 1/2

Several videos circulating on social networks show people gathering in Arroyo Naranjo with pots and pans and loudly demanding that the government solve the energy crisis facing the country. “They blocked the road so that they could not pass”, says a woman recording the protest. “Down with dictatorship, enough already!”, he shouts, along with the protesters. The aforementioned independent media reported that several policemen were present with the crowd, not daring to intervene.

Three days later Hurricane Ian Category three, which left the west end of the island devastated Three dead and substantial property damageThe country is yet to recover from Tuesday’s total blackout.

Most of them 11.1 million people are without electricity -For a few hours a day at most-, most shops and gas stations will be closed and running water will be stopped.

State Electricity Association (UNE) announced that it was able to integrate the network, separated after the event.Zero generationEnergy on Tuesday, but acknowledged difficulties beyond taxes: Out of 14 plants in the country, 7 plants have been shut downincluding two large ones.

Following the protests this Friday Camaguey (East), Patabano (West) and in poor neighborhoods Havana Like El Cerro, Arroyo Naranjo and San Miguel del Padron.

“In Sero, there was no water or electricity for 72 hours. “People took to the streets because the food bought after making twenty sacrifices went bad,” he explained. F The septuagenarian Mercedes.

Luis Antonio Torres Iribar, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC, sole legal entity) in Havana, said, “Struggle is a right”, according to the state agency Latin Press.

“We had to face isolated situations where there were popular complaints of food losses due to lack of water, electricity and electricity. We consider these demands to be reasonable.”, confirmed Torres Iribar in a statement to state television.

All of these protests were nonviolent, with police officers stationed in the area and, at times, UNE trucks stopping to repair damaged lines.

Special sites like NetBlocks, Internet Outages, and CloudFlare Radar The Cuban regime has condemned it by almost completely blocking internet traffic from the island From 8:00 PM local time.

These specialized organizations, along with many activists, agreed that this was an attempt to silence the protests and prevent them from spreading, as their live broadcasts on the networks became normal. The Cuban dictatorship did not explain the incident And the official media didn’t pick it up.

The ongoing power outages have fueled the protests in recent days, but the complaints go further, pointing to the regime and complaining about the general state of affairs in the country.

Cuba It has been facing a severe crisis for two years due to a combination of the pandemic and errors in economic and monetary policy.

During this, The With food and medicine shortages, queues have multipliedThe value of the peso has fallen from 24 to the dollar to almost 200 in the informal market. Inflation has risen.

Power outages have become more frequent. Some parts of the country had only two days without power cuts between July and September. In some places they reach twelve continuous hours a day.

Cuba’s energy system was in crisis before Ian. Seven of the eight land-based thermoelectric plants (another six floating plants are leased) are over 40 years old and have an estimated life of 30. Plants and networks suffer from a lack of long-term investment and maintenance.

Along with the blackout, protests have also grown. In the past three months, several dozen were registered, as well as in Santiago de Cuba (East) and Havana, according to an account by the independent media Inventario Project. Among them, the two days of demonstrations in Neuvitas (East) stood out.

Cuts are an obvious source of discontent. Indeed, on July 11, 2021, an anti-government protest, the largest in decades, began in San Antonio de los Baños (West) during the blackout.

(With information from EFE and AFP)

Continue reading: