Protests erupted across Cuba’s capital of Havana on Wednesday evening as the country grapples with its worst blackouts in decades amid the ongoing U.S. blockade.
Videos posted on X show police offers repelling blows from protesters in the Playa neighborhood of Havana, with barricades erected in the streets.
Crowds of protesters blocked roads with burning rubbish, and were heard shouting “turn on the lights” and “the people, united, will never be defeated,” according to Reuters.
The blackouts across Cuba have worsened significantly since January, when President Donald Trump issued an executive order that threatened to impose tariffs on any country that exported oil or petroleum products to the country.
Cuba’s energy minister Vicente de la O Levy said that the country’s energy system is in a “critical state,” and that it had completely run out of diesel and fuel oil.
“The sum of the different types of fuel: crude oil, fuel oil, of which we have absolutely none; diesel, of which we have absolutely none – I am being repetitive – the only thing we have is gas from our wells, where production has grown,” he told state-run media, according to the BBC.
This is a breaking story. More to follow.