Thousands of Cubans have gathered to protest against the country’s communist government.
In a rare show of rebellion, Cubans across the island nation gathered in towns and cities to demand freedom from the country’s government.
Another major contributing factor to the protests is Cuba’s socioeconomic status, which the pandemic has severely impacted.
Video footage of the protests shows many participants chanting phrases such as “down with the dictatorship”, “we want liberty”, “we are not afraid,” and more.
After the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Cuba, the nation’s tourist-reliant economy took a significant hit as Trump’s new laws banned Americans from travelling to Cuba.
Not only that, but it also reduced the amount of imported “foreign revenue flows”, such as “food, fuel and inputs for agriculture and manufacturing”.
When combined with the effects brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, Cubans have been suffering under President Miguel Díaz-Canel, and his Communist Party.
When speaking with the Associated Press, an anonymous protestor had this to say: “We are fed up with the queues, the shortages. That’s why I’m here.”
I have lived in Cuba for nine years and the scenes we saw today were stunning. The protests spread more quickly than anyone could have imagined. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring but the level of discontent and anger isn’t going anywhere. pic.twitter.com/K8LZyuBY1R
— Patrick Oppmann CNN (@CNN_Oppmann) July 12, 2021
“I just walked through town looking to buy some food and there were lots of people there, some with signs, protesting,” said Claris Ramirez, a resident of San Antonio de los Banos, a town about 36 kilometres away from the nation’s capital Havana.
“They are protesting blackouts, that there is no medicine.”
Havana saw some of the most dramatic scenes of the protest where, on Sunday afternoon, some protesters began throwing rocks amidst traffic.
This led to police being brought in to manage the crowd. According to reports, when protesters moved to the area surrounding Galeano Avenue, they were subjected to “teargas barrages”.
Later on, “some protesters pulled up cobblestones and threw them at police”.
This led to arrests and the protest dispersing.
But, according to The Guardian, government supporters also converged on the area: “shouting slogans in favour of the late president Fidel Castro and the revolution. Some of them assaulted a cameraman and an AP photographer.”
Cuba needs our help. Please help me share. My country is suffering. We need your help. #SOSCuba #PatriaYVida pic.twitter.com/OCsGG4ViQv
— youaremyhope ⁷ (@Adachely2) July 12, 2021
In a public address, President Díaz-Canel blamed “the Cuban-American mafia” for instigating the protests.
“As if pandemic outbreaks had not existed all over the world, the Cuban-American mafia, paying very well on social networks to influencers and YouTubers, has created a whole campaign … and has called for demonstrations across the country,” said Díaz-Canel.
On the day of the protests, it was reported that Cuba recorded an additional “6923 daily cases” of COVID-19 with “47 additional deaths”.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the island nation amassed 218,396 confirmed cases of the virus with 1431 deaths from January 3, 2020, to July 9, 2021.
The head of epidemiology in Cuba’s health ministry, Francisco Duran, has expressed his concern for the statistics.
“These are alarming numbers which are increasing daily,” he said.
