In an unusual turn, Cuban leader recognizes the legitimacy of the protests

A high-ranking official in Cuba considered legitimate the protests these days of the population due to the absence of electricity but, he lamented, the reconstruction work is slowing down due to the damage caused by Hurricane Ian.

Hundreds of people came out with saucepans and blocked streets in various parts of the capital on Thursday and Friday night, after blackouts that lasted almost three days and become more dramatic with the tropical heat that quickly decomposes food, given the impossibility of cooking it. since many households cook using electricity.

“I believe that protesting is a right. But it is a right when those responsible, the State and the Government, stop doing what they are responsible for,” said Luis Antonio Torres Iríbar, president of the Provincial Defense Council of Havana and secretary of the powerful Communist Party of Cuba, in an interview. published on Saturday by the official page Cubadebate.

“Under the conditions of yesterday’s protest, what it does is stop the fulfillment of our mission, which is, in the shortest time possible, to achieve full recovery,” said Torres. These are the first comments from the country’s leaders about the protests.

In July 2021 some unusual demonstrations on the island They also occurred due to power outages and shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and an increase in United States sanctions on the island. On that occasion, the authorities accused Washington and interest groups of encouraging the claims.

In popular capital neighborhoods such as Cerro and outlying towns such as Bacuranao or La Gallega, protests were experienced, some of which were giving way on Friday night to the extent that the electricity service was returned to them, he noted. The Associated Press.

Other places such as Primelles and Avenida Vía Blanca were taken over by the police themselves through strong operations and cordoned off. No acts of violence or vandalism were witnessed.

“Many cadres (high-ranking leaders) had to go out to explain, to give those arguments, to participate and be with those who protested, providing them with opinions and criteria so that they could understand the situation,” Torres said. “These cadres could have been with the electricians, with the communicators, with the construction workers, from community groups, collecting debris.”

Although Ian crossed the island from south to north on Tuesday through its western region, leaving three dead and an unquantified number of damages, it affected the National Energy System (SEN), causing a total national blackout from which it could only begin to gradually recover. .

That, added to the damage caused by the infrastructure — fallen poles, burned transformers and cables on the ground — left thousands without power and therefore without water.

In the capital, 60% of users already have electricity and specialists in the sector worked 24 hours a day this week.

“All the food is about to be lost. It’s good already!”, he told her to the AP Yunior Velasquez, 61 years old.

As power was gradually restored, the internet was cut off both Thursday and Friday during the time of the protests.

“Internet service has been interrupted once again in Cuba, at about the same time as yesterday (Thursday),” Alp Toker, director of Netblocks, a London-based network monitoring firm, said Friday night. .

The internet also gradually returned in the early hours of Saturday.

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