Cuba gives protesters up to 9-year sentences over blackout demos

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) -- At least 15 protesters were sentenced to up to nine years in prison after participating in a day of protests in Cuba last year over power and food shortages, the island's Supreme Court said. Hundreds of people took to the streets in three Cuban cities on March 17, 2024, during a tense weekend of blackouts that lasted up to 13 hours a day in some provinces. The marches in Santiago de Cuba, Bayamo and Santa Marta were the largest since the social unrest of July 11, 2021, which...