In Cuba, the lights in some homes have come back on after the entire power grid went down several times in recent days. The island nation is suffering from a shortage of basic goods and services and has now been hit by Hurricane Oscar, which has claimed several lives. All these crises can lead to mass riots, experts warn.
At the end of last week, the entire country was plunged into darkness due to a power plant accident, and the blackout led to discontent. People were banging empty cooking pots, there were other small protests in the streets which were broken up by the security forces. According to President Miguel Díaz-Canel, it was about “a small group of people, mostly drunk, who behaved indecently” and tried to “disrupt the civil peace”.
Cubans are dissatisfied, the authorities react with repression
Cuba is in its worst crisis in decades. The country lacks fuel because Venezuela, which is also in a difficult situation, has restricted supplies. The government in Havana blames the United States for the energy crisis, since during the administration of Donald Trump the blockade against the country was further tightened.
The president of the Caribbean country warned the protesters: “We want to emphasize that the revolution will not tolerate such behavior under any circumstances,” he said. “We will treat everyone with the severity that the revolutionary laws provide for.“ Cubans told ARD that access to the Internet is constantly restricted so that people cannot organize for larger protests.
It is not the first time that the authorities in Havana have taken a repressive approach to critics. When in 2021 - again due to power cuts - thousands took to the streets to protest, the police responded with mass arrests. As a result, most people choose to emigrate rather than risk going behind bars. According to various estimates, nearly 2 million people - almost 20% of the population - have left the country in the last two years, writes the “New York Times”. As a result, Cuba also suffers from a serious labor shortage.
„Chaos - the word I would use is “chaos,” Omar Everleny, a Cuban economist in Havana, told US media. “Everyone who thought about leaving is now accelerating their plans. And one constantly hears: “I will sell my house and just leave”.
Is the current crisis a threat to the regime?
A large number of Cubans who have remained in the country rely on money and food products that emigrants send them from abroad. But in front of various media, Cubans tell how the little food and supplies they have are now spoiling because of the lack of electricity.
Footballs circulating on social media show islanders cooking on open fires to save at least some of the food. “Without electricity we have nothing, we have no food, we cannot freeze anything, we cannot work. We have nothing, it's hard," said a woman quoted by ARD. “But what else is left for us?“.
On top of that, Cuba was also hit by Hurricane Oscar. It caused flooding, especially in the eastern part of the island, uprooted trees and damaged houses. The governments of Russia, Venezuela, Mexico, Barbados and Colombia have pledged support, and power has already been restored in some areas. But the power grid is extremely outdated and Cubans expect outages in the future.
Dramatic moment
„This is a dramatic moment,” says Sebastian Arcos of the Cuban Research Institute in Florida. "It shows in a very dramatic way the collapse of the Cuban economy after 65 years of mismanagement by this regime," added Arcos, who emigrated from Cuba in 1992. But whether the current crises will seriously threaten the regime remains unclear. Arkos still remembers how he was absolutely certain that it would collapse immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Anne Demer ARD | Alexander Detev editor