Daniel Lozano

Updated Monday, March 18, 2024-00:38

"Current (electric energy) and food!

Current and food!" Hundreds of citizens shouted desperately in the streets of

Santiago de Cuba,

the second municipality in the country, considered by the revolution as its martyr city.

The reality is that it is a city as martyr as so many others on the island, because almost no one is saved in the midst of the serious crisis that has reduced the consumption of chicken and bread this month and that also repeats the electrical blackouts from east to west. .

"We are hungry!" repeated those gathered at the moment when police and soldiers were deployed to appease the protest.

The forces of the revolution protected the headquarters of the

Cuban Communist Party (PCC)

in Santiago and were also present around the family home of

José Daniel Ferrer,

leader of the

Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu),

a group with recognized support popular in the city.

Ferrer has remained in prison since July 11, 2021, when thousands of Cubans staged the main social outbreak in 65 years of revolutionary hegemony in Cuba.

In another of the videos that went viral on social networks, several people shouted back at the head of the PCC in Santiago.

"We don't want a tooth! (to talk without saying anything)," those present repeated.

The usual libertarian cries of "Patria y Vida!" were also heard, the anthem created by a group of singers that became the flag during 11J.

As usually happens in protests that occur on the island, the Internet began to fail, a common official strategy to prevent images of what was happening in Santiago from spreading.

State Security took control of the situation, activists present at the protest assured EL MUNDO.

According to reports verified by the

Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH),

a large protest also took place last Tuesday in the eastern municipality of San Andrés, province of Holguín.

"A large number of black berets (special repressive brigade of the

Ministry of the Interior)

occupied the center of town. Throughout the week, several protesters have been summoned to whom the police have imposed fines of 5,000 Cuban pesos (almost 200 euros, a figure astronomical for humble Cubans)", confirmed the OCDH.

The Castro authorities' fear of a new social uprising caused the paralysis of the great economic package launched at the beginning of this year.

The situation is so precarious that the Minister of Energy, Vicente de la O Levy, acknowledged this Saturday that "practically the country is affected, including Havana. There are regions where entire mornings are in blackout, practically all day and practically in everything." the country".

In recent weeks, maintenance work on the largest thermoelectric plant on the island has been added to the constant fuel shortage.