The aftermath of Hurricane Ian has affected countries other than the United States.
As the nation entered its third day of darkness following the seismic storm, Cubans rushed to the streets last night to beat pots and protest in various Havana neighbourhoods.
The massive storm caused Cuba’s grid to collapse earlier this week, knocking out power to the entire island of 11 million people, flattening homes, and obliterating fields.
For some Cubans – already reeling from shortages of food, fuel, and medicine – the prolonged blackout was the last straw.
Jorge Luis Cruz, of Havana’s El Cerro neighborhood, stood in his doorway on Thursday evening banging a metal pot and shouting in anger.
Dozens of others on side streets around his home could be heard banging pots from terraces and rooftops in the dark. “This isn’t working, enough of this,” Cruz told Reuters. “All my food is rotten. Why? Because we don’t have electricity.”
Cruz said his family did not want him to take to the street out of fear he would be hauled off to jail. “Let them take me,” he said.