14ymedio, Havana, 9 August 2022 — Nearly 200 people took to the streets on Tuesday morning in Alcides Pino, one of the 21 popular councils of city of Holguín, to protest the prolonged blackouts that the city is suffering.
“Turn on the electricity dickhead,” was the majority cry of the people, between the sounds of people banging on pots and pans and the blare of car and motorcycle horns, which accompanied the large demonstration, broadcast through social networks.
One of those recordings was made by a user who said: “It’s time to ask for freedom for the people of Cuba,” a cry that was answered with gestures of assent by the crowd. “Join us!” they yelled at bystanders watching the march.
Some of the protesters covered their faces with their own shirts, something that did not happen on July 11, 2021. Many of those imprisoned for those protests were arrested after being identified in the videos broadcast, that day and in the following days, on social networks.
Alcides Pino is one of the more than twenty places in Holguín that, as reported by the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE), would suffer a power cut between 12 at night and 6 in the morning and would only have electricity again from that time until 6 pm this Tuesday.
Since the first demonstrations against the blackouts, on July 15, in Los Palacios (Pinar del Río), protests have been added throughout the island, which is suffering an unprecedented energy crisis. On August 5, the same day that the gigantic fire started at the Matanzas Supertanker Base, hundreds of people demonstrated in Martí Park in Cienfuegos demanding an end to the blackouts, which in some areas last up to 14 hours.
Electricity shortages, however, are far from easing. The official media reported this Tuesday morning that the current deficit is forecast at 837 MW – the previous day, the forecast of a deficit of 991 MW ultimately turned out to be 1,246 MW. Meanwhile, the Antonio Guiteras plant, near the Matanzas fire, which was shut down this Monday due to lack of fuel and water, is now in the “start-up process,” and many other units are out of service. Using the usual euphemism in these cases, the authorities described the situation as “very complex.”
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