As Cuba approaches Saturday, marking the eve of the 73rd anniversary of the Moncada Barracks assault, the nation finds itself engulfed in an unprecedented electrical crisis.
While the regime gears up for a central event in Pinar del Río on Sunday, millions of Cubans are left in the dark with no immediate solution in sight.
The Electric Union reported that on Friday, power was interrupted for 24 hours across all provinces, with a peak outage of 2,315 MW at 9:10 PM.
For Saturday, a projected outage of 2,160 MW is expected during peak hours. The gap between what the system can generate and what is needed is staggering: with a demand of 3,200 MW, only 1,070 MW will be available.
Five thermal generation units remain out of service due to malfunctions—at the Máximo Gómez, Ernesto Guevara, Diez de Octubre, Lidio Ramón Pérez, and Antonio Maceo plants—while another four are under maintenance.
Additionally, 106 distributed generation plants have been shut down due to a shortage of fuel.
The Power Play Amidst Darkness
In this widespread blackout context, Friday witnessed an unusual event that many Havana residents hadn't seen in weeks: precisely at 9:00 PM, the exact time called by the Cuban Resistance Assembly for a nationwide pot-banging protest, entire neighborhoods in Havana were simultaneously electrified.
Activist Leonardo Romero Negrín captured these moments, and journalist and activist Mag Jorge Castro disseminated the images, calling the episode a deliberate move by the regime to quell public unrest before the protests.
"Whole neighborhoods were powered up at once after weeks without nighttime electricity. The regime's response to the national call... the lights were short-lived, and protests began," Castro wrote in his post.
If it was indeed a maneuver, it failed to deter the protests.
Pot-banging protests echoed through Lawton, San Agustín, La Coronela, and La Lisa in Havana, as well as in Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos. In Lawton, residents of Dolores Park amplified their protest noise using pots and fire extinguishers.
Protests Intensify Amidst Unrelenting Power Outages
July 2026 has marked the peak of Cuba's electrical crisis in recent years. The National Electric System (SEN) has experienced three total collapses—on the 6th, 10th, and 14th—leaving approximately 9.6 million people without power each time.
The simmering anger has been building for weeks. Lawton has already been the scene of protests on July 18th and 19th with chants of "Freedom" and "We want the light," and a pot-banging protest in El Vedado after 30 hours without electricity showed the protest's spread throughout the capital.
Mag Jorge Castro concluded his post with a rallying cry that encapsulates the mood of the protesters: "Let every day at 9 PM be a time when all of Cuba is heard, with the noise of the pots. Let us extend the national pot-banging for every day a Cuban family suffers an injustice, for every prisoner, for every hungry child. The time is now."
Understanding Cuba's Power Crisis and Public Unrest
What is causing the widespread power outages in Cuba?
The widespread power outages in Cuba are primarily due to a significant gap between the energy demand and the country's generating capacity. This situation is exacerbated by malfunctioning and under-maintained thermal power plants, as well as a shortage of fuel for distributed generation plants.
How has the Cuban government responded to the power crisis?
The Cuban government's response to the power crisis has been criticized as inadequate. Despite preparing for national celebrations, millions of citizens remain without a clear resolution to the outages. Additionally, there are claims of deliberate actions to suppress public protests by restoring power temporarily.
What impact have the power outages had on Cuban society?
The power outages have significantly impacted Cuban society, leading to widespread protests and public unrest. Many citizens have organized pot-banging demonstrations to express their frustration with the lack of electricity and the overall state of affairs in the country.