Protests erupt in Cuba as US restrictions spark food, energy shortages
Authorities say a local communist party office was lit on fire during rare antigovernment demonstration on the island.
Protesters in central Cuba have torched a local communist party office, as conditions on the island continue to deteriorate under severe restrictions from the United States meant to squeeze the economy.
Authorities said on Saturday that five people were arrested amid what the government called “vandalism acts” in the city of Moron.
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“What began peacefully, after an exchange with the authorities in the area, degenerated into vandalism against the headquarters of the municipal committee of the Communist Party,” the state-run newspaper Invasor said of the incident.
Unverified videos of the incident show protesters breaking into the office and throwing stones at a burning building. Shouts of “liberty” could be heard in one of the videos, according to the news agency Reuters.
Other government buildings were also reportedly damaged overnight. No injuries have been confirmed so far, though the details of the protest and its aftermath remain unclear.
The human rights group Justicia11 said that gunfire was heard in the area and a man may have been shot, but a state-run news outlet, Vanguardia de Cuba, meanwhile, denied those reports.
Protests are relatively rare in Cuba, given the threat of government repression. But in recent weeks, Cubans have expressed growing frustration with food and electricity shortages.
Some have taken to banging pots and pans at night — a protest tradition called “cacerolazo” — to express anger over the lack of food. Students, meanwhile, at the University of Havana held a sit-in on Monday after their classes were suspended due to energy restrictions.
Economic conditions on the island, already strained, have worsened since United States President Donald Trump cut off its access to oil as he seeks to topple the government in Havana, a longtime target of US ire.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Friday that he had held talks with US officials and that no petroleum shipments have arrived in Cuba for three months.
Trump ordered an end to transfers of Venezuelan oil and funds to Cuba after the US carried out an attack on Venezuela on January 3. That attack culminated in the abduction of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who had maintained friendly relations with Cuba.
On January 29, Trump upped the ante, issuing an executive order that effectively severed Cuba’s ability to import fossil fuels from other countries. The order threatened economic penalties against any country that supplied Cuba with oil, whether directly or indirectly.
Cuba’s ageing energy grid, however, largely relies on fossil fuel, as do everyday tools like cars and generators.
During remarks earlier this month, Trump said that Cuba would be “next” after the US war against Iran concludes.
“Cuba’s at the end of the line,” Trump told a group of Latin American leaders at his estate, Mar-a-Lago, on March 7.
“As we achieve a historic transformation in Venezuela, we’re also looking forward to the great change that will soon be coming to Cuba.”
Meridiano
