14ymedio, Havana, 17 March 2024 — After several days of extended power outages and weeks-long shortages of basic rations, thousands of Santiago residents took to the streets on Sunday, shouting “electricity and food… freedom… homeland and life” and “We are hungry.”
The crowd was concentrated on Carretera del Morro, close to several popular and humble neighborhoods such as Vista Hermosa, Van Van, Dessy and Altamira.
La población de Santiago de Cuba protesta al grito de “corriente” y “comida” https://t.co/ldgFSvNyjL
👉🏼 👉🏼También se escuchó a la multitud corear “libertad” y “patria y vida” | Video: Quientusabe Singao/Facebook pic.twitter.com/N83osIytlx
— 14ymedio (@14ymedio) March 17, 2024
After initial images of a large-scale demonstration began to appear on social media sometime after noon, the Cuban government — as has become customary in such instances since the Island-wide protests of 11 July 2021 — began restricting communications, cutting off cell-phone internet access across the island.
Independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada, who was born in Santiago de Cuba and now lives in the United States, shared several images of the city sent to her by followers of her Facebook page. These show a strong police presence that includes uniformed officers monitoring some of the protest and several patrol cars at the scene.
The recently appointed provincial Communist Party secretary, Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, arrived on the scene. In a video posted by Mayeta, Johnson can be seen on the roof of a house trying to talk to the crowd, who shout her down. Dozens of people, mainly women, insult her and other officials. They can be heard chanting “Patria y vida” and, to applause, “libertad.” A truckload of soldiers can also be seen in the video being rebuked by the crowd.
In the same video, a lieutenant colonel from the Armed Forces ministry as well as dozens of police officers can be seen among the demonstrators but, for now, there have been no reports that security forces have tried to disrupt the protest.
#17M #ProtestasSantiago #CarreteraDelMorro #Cuba Decenas de mujeres lanzan injurias hacia los dirigentes y protestan en contra de la presencia militar que usan en estos casos para reprimir al pueblo. Luego corean “patria y vida” y “libertad” | https://t.co/ldgFSvNyjL pic.twitter.com/YliBX88aMY
— 14ymedio (@14ymedio) March 17, 2024
Other footage seems to capture the moment when Beatriz Johnson arrives on the scene. In an expression of frustration with the excuses the regime always provides to justify its mismanagement, people can be heard shouting “We don’t want a lackey”.
Santiagueros rodean a primera secretaría del #PCC en #SantiagoDeCuba y le gritan “no queremos muela”#CubaPaLaCalle pic.twitter.com/CSyB7iku4w
— Cuba_Libre (@Mi_Cuba_Libre) March 17, 2024
Residents of Santiago de Cuba report that on Saturday, March 16, ration stores in some areas of the city began distributing only three pounds of rice instead of the usual monthly quota of six pounds. Residents are only just now receiving January’s quota of coffee. “We’re dying of hunger and, on top of that, there are the blackouts. There’s not even enough electricity to chill some water or preserve the little food you do get,” says a resident of Caney, a village northeast of Santiago.
In another video circulating on social media, women of varying ages, among them women holding children, shout “electricity and food.” Plainclothes policemen try to silence them but the women just shout louder.
#17M #ProtestasSantiagoDeCuba #Cuba Mujeres y jóvenes en la calle gritando “corriente y comida” mientras uniformados y hombres vestidos de civil intentan callarlos, pero los manifestantes gritan más fuerte sus reclamos. | Video: Martí Noticas https://t.co/ldgFS