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Cuba Blackouts Spur Havana Cacerolazos as Rare Student Protest Emerges

A rare student sit-in highlighted how relentless power failures are disrupting daily life.

Overview

  • Residents banged pots for consecutive nights across multiple Havana neighborhoods and in Jaguey Grande, with geolocated videos showing darkened streets and crowds.
  • Students staged a peaceful sit-in on the University of Havana steps, an uncommon act in Cuba that led to talks with officials as plainclothes security watched.
  • A major outage followed the Antonio Guiteras plant failure, cutting electricity to roughly six million people and prompting temporary class suspensions in Havana, according to the state utility.
  • Blackouts now last many hours or even days in some areas, with brief overnight returns pushing people to cook and complete basic tasks before power cuts resume.
  • Supply remains constrained with eight of 16 thermoelectric units offline and scarce fuel, while President Donald Trump intensified pressure and analysts estimate $8–$10 billion is needed to rehabilitate the grid.