Protests erupt in Havana as Cuba struggles to restore electricity

By Dave Sherwood and Ayose Naranjo Reuters Scattered protests broke out across Havana on Tuesday evening, with residents banging pots, honking horns and shouting “turn on the lights” as millions ‌of Cubans remained without power amid a six-month-long U.S. fuel blockade. Cuba experienced a nationwide outage on ‌Monday — its third this year — but while authorities said most of the country had been reconnected to the island’s grid by late ​Tuesday, many remained in the dark and without electricity as the island doesn’t have enough fuel. The country’s grid operator UNE said it had reconnected the grid from Pinar del Rio, in far western Cuba, to Holguin in the east. Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second-largest city, remained disconnected and without power, authorities said. The U.S. in January ‌cut off Cuba’s fuel supply, then ⁠imposed fresh sanctions that have prompted an exodus of foreign businesses and a near-complete collapse o...

Colombia’s Petro says ELN attack ‘practically’ ends peace talks

An attack with explosives by Colombian leftist rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN), which left more than two dozen troops injured and two dead, has “practically” ended peace talks, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said on Tuesday.

The attack, which took place on Tuesday and is the most serious since a bilateral ceasefire between the government and the ELN ended in August, occurred in a rural area of Colombia’s Arauca province, which sits on the border with Venezuela.

“A truck, loaded with explosives which wounded 27 young people and killed two, planted by the ELN with who we were talking about peace (…) well, that’s practically an action that ends the peace process with blood,” Petro said during an event in Bogota.

Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president, restarted peace talks with the ELN at the end of 2022 as part of his efforts to deliver total peace and end the country’s six-decade conflict which has left more than 450,000 dead.

The talks have faced a crisis for months due to the government’s decision to begin separate talks with an ELN unit in the southwest of the country which earlier parted ways with the rebel group.

SOURCE: Reuters and agencies



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