Cuban authorities make arrests after protests broke out over blackouts

HAVANA (AP) — Cuban authorities said Sunday they arrested a number of people for disorderly behavior after protests over blackouts that stretched on for days broke out in recent weeks.

Cuba's Attorney General's office said it started criminal proceedings against people in Cuba's capital Havana, the province of Mayabeque and the city of Ciego de Avila for “assault, disorderly behavior and damages” imprisoning them in what it said was a precautionary measure.

The statement didn't provide details about how many people were detained, or the conditions in which they were arrested, saying only that “aggression towards authorities" resulted in injuries.

Cuba often levels such charges against citizens that protest on the island, including teenagers, fueling concerns by human rights groups, the European Union and the United States.

On the same day Cuban authorities announced the arrests, the organization Justicia11J posted on social media saying it confirmed that authorities had arrested at least three people protesting in Ciego de Avila on Nov. 7.

“After the town was without electricity for more than 24 hours, the people of the town took to the streets banging on kettles and chanting ‘turn on the power’,” the organization wrote in a post.

The arrests come after the island was slammed by two hurricanes in a matter of weeks, compounded by sometimes dayslong power blackouts due to the country's energy crisis and strong winds from the hurricane.

Category 3 Hurricane Rafael barreled through the western half of the island, knocking out the entire country's power grid. While authorities have been able to restore some power in central hubs like Havana, many on the island are still without electricity and running water.

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake in eastern Cuba on Sunday morning only added to the country's woes.

On top of the natural disasters, frustrations on the island have simmered due to an economic crisis and soaring prices for gasoline and food, leaving average Cubans scrambling to buy even the most basic items like chicken and eggs.

The struggles have pushed hundreds of thousands of Cubans to migrate from the country in recent years and have also fueled protests, which have been met by similar crackdowns by the Cuban government.

The most notable came in July 2021, when food shortages fueled mass anti-government demonstrations, the biggest in decades. Those protests, which were marked by a few cases of looting and violence by protesters, were met by a harsh crackdown by the Cuban government.

Though no official figures were provided, non-governmental monitoring groups reported that around 1,000 people were arrested, 700 of whom had to go to court. Charges like sabotage, violent robbery, assault and public disorder were leveled at many protesters, though many family members of those detained insist that their children were not involved in any violent crimes.

The protests were followed by smaller demonstrations in October 2022 and again in March this year.