Cuba ignites: Furious protesters storm and torch Communist Party HQ in blackout fury

After Cuba's communist authorities began a prisoner release negotiated with the Vatican, it has confirmed that historic talks were underway with the US amid growing protests at home and intense pressure from President Donald Trump.

Protests are intensifying, according to social media posts from Cuba.

In Ciego de Ávila, Cuba, chaos erupted as protesters, fed up with crippling fuel shortages and endless blackouts, reportedly stormed the local Communist Party headquarters and set it ablaze.

Video footage captures a fiery inferno engulfing the building, with crowds cheering in Spanish — "¡Que quemen los palapiños todos!" (Let them burn all the little palaces!) — as flames leap into the sky amid scattered shouts and running figures.

This dramatic escalation, shared widely on X by Insider Paper, highlights the boiling tensions in a nation gripped by its worst energy crisis in decades.

CNN reported that Cuba has been plagued by up to 20-hour daily blackouts since at least 2025, stemming from a "war economy" riddled with infrastructure failures and economic recession.

These outages have left streets garbage-strewn and residents desperate, with power grid collapses becoming routine, as seen in October 2024 when Hurricane Oscar compounded nationwide blackouts.

The BBC notes ongoing negotiations between Cuba and the US under Trump, amid fuel embargoes that have depleted reserves for three months, making the grid "unstable" and sparking rare street protests.

Similar demonstrations in Santiago in March 2024 over food and power shortages foreshadowed this unrest, exacerbated by fuel price hikes.

Mexican media outlets like El Financiero describe March 2026 as a "tipping point", with massive blackouts affecting six million people and deficits hitting historic highs due to US "oil siege."

Trump has publicly stated Cuba is living its "last moments," intensifying pressure amid 15-hour outages in Havana, leading to cacerolazos (pot-banging protests) and economic paralysis.

Publimetro highlights President Diaz-Canel's admission of talks with Washington to ease the blockade, as shortages halt gas supplies and daily life.

Other sources, including INFO7 and adn Noticias, report widespread manifestations, with university students joining in, attributing the crisis to aging plants and reduced Venezuelan oil.

This flare-up could signal broader upheaval, as Cubans increasingly defy fear to demand change in a system strained by external sanctions and internal decay.

Meanwhile, the Justicia 11J rights group said it had been able to confirm the release of two people jailed for taking part in major anti-government protests on July 11, 2021.

Meanwhile, anti-cmmunist protests have reportedly erupted due to fuel shortages and widespread blackouts in the island nation.

Cuba said Thursday that it would release 51 prisoners after talks with the Holy See, which has in the past acted as mediator between Havana and Washington. 

Havana has described the prisoner releases as a "goodwill" gesture to the Vatican.

AFP witnessed the arrival home of Adael Leyva Diaz, 29, who was serving a 13-year sentence, and Ronald García Sanchez, 33, sentenced to 14 years.

As protests spread, Cubai has reportedly ent4ered its eighth straight night without power on Friday night.

Both live in the Havana suburb of Arroyo Naranjo.

According to Justice 11J, which tracks arrests since the 2021 protests, there are at least 760 political prisoners behind bars in Cuba.

The unusual show of clemency came hours after President Miguel Diaz-Canel confirmed that his government was in talks with the United States.

Trump has said Cuba will be "next" on his agenda after Iran and the US overthrow of Cuba's top ally, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela.

Speaking to AFP, a White House official on Friday repeated Trump's claim that Cuba is a "failing nation" and that a deal with its government "would be very easily made."

The Republican leader has placed the impoverished island under a US oil blockade, strangling its fuel supply on the basis of what he called the "extraordinary threat" posed by Cuba to the United States. 

This comes on top of a six-decade-old US trade embargo.

During a meeting with top Cuban officials, broadcast live on national television, Diaz-Canel said Havana was negotiating with Washington, but gave little away about the nature of the talks.

"Cuban officials recently held discussions with representatives of the United States government," he said, confirming negotiations first revealed by Trump in mid-January.

"These conversations have been aimed at seeking solutions -- through dialogue -- to the bilateral differences," he added.

Mexico's left-wing President Claudia Sheinbaum, who had offered to mediate between Cuba and the United States, welcomed the talks, highlighting "the injustice of the blockade against the Cuban people for all these years."

Two Mexican Navy ships bearing 1,000 tons of humanitarian aid -- the third Mexican aid shipment since February -- arrived Friday in Cuba.

US media reports say Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, a grandson of former president Raul Castro, has been holding secret talks for weeks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is Cuban-American. 

"As long as it benefits us, we'll reach an agreement, but on our terms," Sergio Guerra, a 55-year-old food trader, told AFP.

Rodriguez Castro was seated in the front row at the meeting addressed by Diaz-Canel on Friday.

The Cuban government has been in Trump's sights since the January overthrow of Washington's other foe in the Caribbean, Maduro, on whom Cuba relied for cheap oil.

The oil embargo has brought Cuba's already troubled economy to the brink of collapse.

The blockade has also starved Cuba's power plants and farms of fuel and brought daily life to a near standstill. Airlines have curtailed or suspend flights to the island for lack of fuel.

Trump last weekend predicted that Cuba "is going to fall pretty soon" and told CNN: "They want to make a deal so badly."

Diaz-Canel said the talks were being supported by "international factors" without elaborating.

Underlining the tension across the Florida Straits separating Cuba and the United States, Cuban forces opened fire on a speedboat carrying a group of alleged armed, US-based assailants on February 25. Five of the people on the boat were killed.

[With inputs from AFP]