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Cuban Protesters Torch Morón Party HQ Amid Blackouts Fueled by U.S. Oil Curbs

Cuban Protesters Torch Morón Party HQ Amid Blackouts Fueled by U.S. Oil Curbs
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Protests in central Cuba intensified this week as residents in the city of Morón stormed and set fire to a local Communist Party headquarters, capping days of blackouts and shortages aggravated by a U.S.-led squeeze on the island’s fuel supplies aljazeera +1. Authorities said five people were arrested after the rare outburst of anti-government anger, which followed a nationwide power outage affecting most of Cuba earlier in March english.

How U.S. Oil Restrictions Helped Turn Lights Out – and People Out

The unrest in Morón came after weeks of rolling blackouts and a massive March 4 outage linked to a failure at the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, which left much of western and central Cuba, including Havana, without power for hours english. The crisis unfolded as shipments of Venezuelan oil — long a lifeline for Cuba — effectively stopped for about three months following a U.S. military operation in Venezuela and subsequent threats of penalties on countries supplying fuel to the island aljazeera +1.

Washington later moved to partially ease pressure, with the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announcing on February 25 it would license certain resales of Venezuelan-origin oil to Cuba’s private sector, but not to state entities that dominate the energy system gulfnews. Analysts said the combination of an oil “blockade” on government channels and limited openings for the private sector left Cuba’s already aging grid short of fuel, pushing daily outages that, in some provinces, stretched close to 20 hours and sharply constraining food distribution and transport aljazeera +1.

From Student Sit‑In to Torched Party Office: A Rare Wave of Dissent

Frustration first surfaced publicly on March 9, when just over 20 students staged a sit‑in at the University of Havana, protesting class suspensions caused by electricity and internet cuts and voicing fears over their future aljazeera. “None of us wanted to get up early today in the dark, make a thermos of coffee, and sit here in the sun,” one 20‑year‑old student said, describing how the crisis had upended campus life aljazeera. Officials responded by downplaying the action while again blaming a “criminal and genocidal” U.S. blockade for the hardship havanatimes.

By March 13–14, anger had spread to Morón in Ciego de Ávila province, where residents took to the streets over power cuts and food shortages, then broke into the municipal Communist Party office, smashing equipment and setting parts of the building ablaze along with a nearby pharmacy and shop, according to state and independent outlets aljazeera +1. State media labeled the incident “vandalism” and reported five arrests, while an unverified local rights group report alleging a shooting was denied by authorities aljazeera +1. Rights organizations noted that hundreds of people detained after earlier protests, including mass demonstrations in 2021, remain behind bars, fueling public fear of reprisals apnews.

Looking Ahead

Faced with mounting discontent and deepening shortages, President Miguel Díaz‑Canel confirmed on March 13 that Cuba had opened talks with U.S. officials “to find solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences,” while his government began releasing 51 prisoners in a Vatican‑brokered gesture of goodwill reuters +1. Whether those moves ease pressure at home will depend on how quickly fuel starts to flow, how far Washington goes in loosening its grip, and whether Havana addresses longstanding grievances over repression and economic mismanagement that blackouts alone did not create.

aljazeera Al Jazeera, March 14, 2026
theguardian The Guardian, March 14, 2026
english Reuters, March 4, 2026
reuters The Washington Post, March 13, 2026
gulfnews Reuters, Feb 25, 2026
aljazeera Reuters/AP, March 9, 2026
havanatimes AP News, March 9, 2026
apnews Human Rights Watch, World Report 2026
themilitant Vatican News / Reuters, March 12–13, 2026