Residents of San Ricardo, Santiago de Cuba, Take to the Streets After Days Without Power

In Santiago de Cuba's San Ricardo neighborhood, residents took to the streets on Sunday, voicing their outrage over enduring several days without electricity. This protest was captured in a video shared by independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada on social media.

The footage reveals frustrated locals, seemingly addressing a local official named "Viviana," who arrived in a luxurious vehicle.

"They don’t want to restore our power, people are getting sick," exclaimed a voice in the video, pointing to the alleged official and her entourage.

The individual filming accused the supposed regime representative of failing to address the issue while enjoying privileges denied to the general populace: "They’re always the same, with power in their homes... And we're here suffering," he lamented.

The regime's response was swift. A commenter on the video noted that multiple police patrols arrived in the neighborhood and added bitterly, "there's gasoline for that."

This protest in San Ricardo is not an isolated incident. Last Thursday, a pot-banging protest erupted in the Micro 2 district of Abel Santa María after more than ten days without electricity due to a broken transformer, marking part of a wave spreading through various sections of the city.

Other nearby residents warned they are also reaching their breaking point. "Soon, the neighbors of René Ramos will protest; the transformer collapsed, now we'll see how long this agony lasts," one person commented. From another part of Santiago, someone reported "almost two months without water."

One resident described the power situation in her circuit as "blackmail": "today they gave us 40 minutes," she noted. Other comments reflected widespread exhaustion: "It's too much of a blackout, for God's sake" and "And without hope of anything."

Some online users called for community unity: "But it shouldn't be one neighborhood now and another later, let's unite," one suggested.

On the same Sunday, another incident came to light involving a mother from Altamira, Santiago de Cuba, who, after protesting for electricity, food, and freedom, was confronted by three patrols, each carrying five officers who "jumped out with batons in their hands."

The electrical crisis fueling these protests stems from deep-rooted issues. The generation deficit exceeded 2,000 MW multiple times in May and June. Over 106 distributed generation plants were out of service due to a lack of fuel, and Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy admitted in May that the country had "absolutely no diesel."

As of June 2026, power outages have surpassed 20 hours daily in Havana and can extend to 40 or 50 consecutive hours in eastern provinces like Santiago. Cuba's electrical shortfall has emerged as the primary trigger for a wave of protests, with the Cuban Observatory of Conflicts reporting 1,311 demonstrations, complaints, and civic expressions of dissent in May 2026 alone—an increase of 29.5% compared to the same month in 2025.

Santiago de Cuba has been a focal point of this unrest: from the pot-banging in Micro 3 and El Salao at the end of May, the June 11 protest with chants of "we want change," to the current street demonstrations in San Ricardo, a map of discontent is unfolding across this eastern city.