Santiago, Cuba

Rare protest: Hundreds of people demonstrated in Cuba’s second-largest city this week over prolonged power outages and food shortages. Videos on social media show Santiago residents, many of them women carrying children, gathered outside a government building, chanting, “We are hungry.” The communist country is facing its worst economic crisis in three decades, with soaring prices, 30 percent inflation, and daily blackouts. Unable to provide bread and milk, the government recently asked the World Food Program, which usually provides emergency rations after war or disaster, for help. Public dissent is unusual in Cuba, where unauthorized gatherings are banned. At least three protesters were arrested, triggering more protests for their release. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said his government was prepared to “attend to the complaints of our people, listen, dialogue.”