Nightly protests against communism throughout Cuba reached a fever pitch this weekend as protesters, armed with little more than local piles of garbage and combustible material, set fire to the Communist Party headquarters in Morón, Ciego de Ávila, in the early morning hours of Saturday.
Cuba has experienced ten consecutive nights of nationwide protests, following months in which hundreds of protests throughout the island have broken documented records, in response to the aggravated state of poverty and misery under communism in the first months of this year. While Cubans have long experienced extreme shortages, a lack of access to basics such as food and medical care, and the violent repression of their rights, the arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro on January 3 cut off a critical lifeline of nearly free fuel that has also left the country almost entirely without electricity.
Without power, the regime cannot properly operate surveillance technology – or even lights at nighttime to see the faces of protesters – a situation that Cuban citizens have taken advantage of, rushing into the streets shouting “freedom!” and “down with communism!”
The protests appear to have been emboldened by the Communist Party admitting on Friday that its officials are in talks with the administration of President Donald Trump. Trump has for weeks told reporters that he was in conversation with Cuban officials for the possibility of an end to the repressive, 67-year-old communist regime in the country, but the Party had denied such talks until abruptly confirming them on Friday.
Many of these protests have involved Cubans burning the massive piles of garbage that the regime has allowed to fester on street corners in major cities. In Morón, the protesters escalated this tactic on Friday night by reportedly first looting the headquarters of the Communist Party there, then burning the furniture and documents there in – and later appearing to set the building on fire.
Dramatic video footage, taken by locals, shows a massive bonfire outside the building and potentially touching it (the quality of video footage on Cuban mobile phones is limited). In some videos circulating online – and shared by reputable outlets such as Cubanet and Martí Noticias – women near the fire can be heard shouting, roughly, “burn it, to hell with it!” while men can be heard shouting “burn it all!”
[Warning: Graphic language in Spanish]
Cubanet reported that the protest in Morón attracted “hundreds” of people and was verified by local communist newspaper coverage. The newspaper reported that at least five people were arrested and one injured.
Speaking anonymously to Martí Noticias, which is based in the United States, a Morón local described a harrowing scene of chaotic repression in response to the uprising. The person estimated that “more than a thousand people” had gathered to protest communism, but were met with fierce brutality, including children.
“They totally ransacked the Party, outside, they burned it all. Most of theme were young, about 15, a lot of kids, they arrested a lot of kids,” the person detailed.
“It was 300 percent repression,” the testimony continued. “More than four policemen were beaten and there were over a thousand, over a thousand people. … the repression was very large, large, large, enormous.”
“A 15-year-old boy, covered in blood, beaten, downtrodden,” the person detailed. “There were rocks flying.”
Telemundo reported that at least one person was shot, apparently in the leg. Some unconfirmed reports identified the victim as a teenaged child.
Protests continued Saturday into Sunday, including in Havana, where the massive presence of the Communist Party makes public outbursts more difficult. In the capital, protests largely took the form of “cacerolazos,” a common protest practice in Latin America in which residents bang pots and pans as loudly as possible to express disapproval of the current situation. Cubanet listed at least five Havana neighborhoods erupted in a cacophony of pot-banging on Saturday night. To make clear their goal, the protesters also shouted “down with communism!” and “freedom!”
Some reports also documented shouts of “let Trump come!” Last week, protesters spray-painted “viva Trump!” on the sides of government buildings in Matanzas province.
Similar protests reportedly occurred in Holguín and Santiago de Cuba, on the eastern half of the island. Unlike in Havana, these protests also featured street mobs protesting at night. Cubanet reported that these protests also attracted the notorious “black berets” – the most feared Communist Party state security thugs, notorious for shooting unarmed protesters, sometimes in their own homes.
The Communist Party acknowledged the unrest on Sunday. Miguel Díaz-Canel, the figurehead “president” who typically stands in for dictator Raúl Castro, shared a strangely conciliatory message on his Twitter account, claiming that frustration was “understandable.”
“The discomfort that our people feel from the prolonged blackouts, as a consequence of the energy blockade of the U.S. – cruelly hardened in the past few months, is understandable,” Díaz-Canel said. The “president” falsely blamed the United States for the widespread fuel and good shortages – omitting that, should the regime have properly managed its finances, it could easily buy oil or sign energy infrastructure deals with allies such as Russia, China, and Canada. Nothing in the barely existing “embargo” prevents the Communist Party from making those agreements.
Following his concession of “understanding” the unrest, Díaz-Canel threatened the Cuban people once more.
“The complaints and demands are legitimate, as long as one acts with civility and respect to public order,” his message continued. “What will never be understandable, justified, or allowed is violence and vandalism attempted against citizens’ peace and the security of our institutions.
While a clear threat, the tone of the message differs significantly to the aftermath of the July 11, 2021, protests, when Díaz-Canel appeared on television and urged every communist in the nation to violently attack anyone they believed to be an anti-communist dissident.
“We are convening all revolutionary communists to go out to the streets where these provocations are happening and confront them with firmness,” he said at the time. “The order of combat is issued, revolutionaries to the streets.”
The communists also attempted to organize an “act of revolutionary reaffirmation” on Morón following the siege of the Communist Party headquarters, but appeared to attract only a small number of people before reports on Saturday night that the protests had resumed.
