14ymedio, Havana, 23 October 2023 – A group of people, the majority of them women, blocked a road last Saturday in Maisí, Guantanamo, after suffering a week with no water supply. During their protest they collected tanks and oil drums to block the traffic, which brought in the authorities.
The protest was shared in social media on Sunday, with a number of videos in which they recorded three key moments of the demonstration. In the first one they are seen barricading the road with oil drums and demanding forcefully that they water, sugar and food supplies be delivered. “I can’t go on like this, I have five kids!” cried one of the women in desperation, before collapsing in front of the camera.
At another point we can see the dispute, now with evident unease, between the women and two police officers who are hardly moving, and and another man — presumably from the Communist Party or a police officer in plain clothes — who moves the barrels and demands that everyone calm down.
It ends with the demonstrators losing patience, several of them lambasting the attitude of the authorities. “This is civil abuse!” the woman who is filming it all on her phone shouts repeatedly.
In the last video the women are walking away carrying their oil drums and shouting protests against the system itself. “Díaz-Canel’s police mistreat the people!” One of them shouts. “Patria y Vida!” she adds as they retreat.
This kind of peaceful protest has become more evident in Cuba in the face of lack of basic supplies. There was a similar situation during the summer in Central Havana when a group of about twelve people shut off a road by sitting on the ground and protesting about having gone more than three days without electricity.
In September, residents of the capital also cut off a street after suffering for 35 days without running water.
Translated by Ricardo Recluso
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