Reports collected by ‘CubaNet’ speak of two detainees and indicate that the majority of the protesters were women.
14ymedio, Madrid, October 8, 2025 — Dozens of people took to the streets Tuesday night in the municipality of Marianao (Havana) to demand an end to the blackouts. In a video shared on social media, residents can be seen banging on pots and pans [a cacerolazo] in the middle of a street where they have stopped traffic and set fires.
According to local residents’ accounts collected on the scene by CubaNet, the incident occurred at 51st and 88th Street in the Santa Felicia neighborhood, and the police arrived immediately. “There are two young men detained,” Karelia Ibáñez stated “Not only did they bang on pots but there was a demonstration. Nothing official was planned before the convoy arrived, so they went all out.”
A few minutes later, they also reported, power was restored to the neighborhood. “They had been turning the power on and off every 10 or 15 minutes for four days, at dawn and throughout the morning,” says Lissette de las Mercedes Quintero Flores. “They banged pots and pans all over the neighborhood, but as always, someone called the police, and a police van came.”
“For four days the power went on and off every 10 or 15 minutes, at dawn and throughout the morning”
Sami Mayde Sánchez provides more details, but agrees with many comments: “People, mainly women, burned things on the street. When I passed there were many policemen and everything was quiet, but there were still a lot of people.” For his part, Mario Miguel Lago Leyva specifies that “the demonstration left from Finlay” and then “joined together” other areas. He continues: “A police convoy and colonel arrived, a van, five patrol cars, two snitches and one citizen who was arrested without cause. Ah, and then the mayor of the municipality. After that they turned on the power and gave a political speech of unfounded justifications.”
In recent weeks, protests have been multiplying, not only over the blackouts but also over the lack of water and garbage collection. Last week, 14ymedio recorded a cacerolazo in the middle of a blackout in the vicinity of the Ciudad Deportiva, known as an area “where the lights go out.”
Similarly, a group of women closed down Monte Street in the heart of Havana, loaded down with their children and empty buckets, expressing their anger at the lack of services. Although several police officers confronted them, moments later a water truck arrived, guarded by a patrol car.
The blackouts are not the only affliction in Marianao. Just three days ago, State television reported on the “sanitization” campaign in the municipality, for which the government has put officials of all ministries to work, and neighbors were talking to the cameras openly about their situation. “There are several problems; if there was only one, fine, but it’s the water, it’s the garbage, it’s the power,” complained Orfareina Bien Jiménez, a resident in the neighborhood of Pocitos.
“We have been without water for 36 days,” said Talía Leyé, who added “the issue of garbage, the issue of the polyclinic, that there are no medicines.” Garbage is collected every month “or every two months,” said another neighbor, Pedro Miguel González. “That’s the problem. If they collected the garbage more often, there wouldn’t be all the diseases.”
More than 27,000 inhabitants live in Marianao, reported Canal Caribe, “and the situation with the water supply is critical.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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