Cuba detains and criminally prosecutes people for disorder after hurricanes

The Attorney General’s Office of Cuba reported that a group of people was arrested and imprisoned for disorders in the context of the blackouts and service cuts caused by both the collapse of the national energy system and the passage of two hurricanes.

“In Havana, Mayabeque and Ciego de Ávila, criminal proceedings are being processed for crimes of attack, public disorder and damage in which it was decided to impose the precautionary measure of provisional detention on the accused presented,” expressed a brief note from the Attorney General’s Office. the Republic published on Sunday in local media.

The statement did not report the number of people detained, nor did it offer any details about the events attributed to it except that it involved “aggression towards authorities and inspectors of the territories that have caused injuries and disturbances of order.”

Cuba went through hard weeks with the fall of the national energy system on October 18, the passage of Cyclone Oscar that left 8 dead in the east of the island two days later and another hurricane, Rafael, which hit the west, causing another collapse of the electricity supply on Wednesday.

Recovery actions are still being carried out and thousands of people do not have water or electricity, while work crews lift fallen poles or debris.

The note from the Prosecutor’s Office warned that the “actions carried out in the territories for recovery, maintaining vitality and the provision of services, have to be accompanied by a climate of order, discipline and respect towards the authorities, officials, their agents or auxiliaries.”

The energy issue is especially sensitive on the island, since its lack and a situation of shortage of basic products was the reason for the largest demonstrations in decades that occurred in July 2021. Subsequently, there were smaller protests in October 2022. and last March.

Although no official figures were offered, those for July 2021 resulted in around 1,000 detainees – according to non-governmental monitoring groups – and judicial proceedings against around 700 people. There was looting and violence. Less massive, without violence and with only a handful of arrests, the subsequent events passed.

This month of weather events and blackouts, some incidents recognized by President Miguel Díaz-Canel himself were reported, but the specific number of arrestees was not reported either.

The Justicia11J organization indicated on its more than 24 hours without electricity. The townspeople took to the streets playing cauldrons and chanting ‘turn on the current,’” he wrote.

Although there were no deaths, Cyclone Rafael caused a “million-dollar” figure that has not yet been quantified, the authorities indicated, including house collapses, poles and transformers falling, cables lying on the ground, and damage to agriculture and infrastructure.

Five days after the cyclone passed, in Havana—home to two million people—some 732,116 customers had electricity service, 85% of those in the capital, the local electricity company reported on Sunday.

The authorities usually denounce that interest groups from the United States encourage demonstrations from social networks in the midst of a policy of US sanctions to pressure a change in the model on the island.

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