Havana: Thousands of Cuba took part in rare protests on Sunday against the communist government, singing, “descending with the dictatorship,” as President Miguel Diaz-Canel called his supporters to face the demonstrators.
The anti-government rally began spontaneously in several cities when the country bears the worst economic crisis in 30 years, with shortage of electricity and chronic food.
Several hundred protesters marched through the singing of the capital Havana, “we wanted freedom,” with the presence of a military and heavy police deployed after the demonstrators appeared outside the Capitol building.
The police used tear gas to disperse the crowds, and at least ten people were arrested, while officers used a plastic pipe to defeat the protesters, AFP journalists watched.
Several thousand protesters – especially young people – also rise to the streets of San Antonio de Los Banos, a city of 30 kilometers (20 miles) southwest Havana.
Security forces arrived immediately after the protest began, and Diaz-Canel then visited the city itself surrounded by party activists as residents stop it, according to video posted online.
The President conveyed the television address of the fight, saying: “The command to fight has been given – on the road, the revolutionaries!” “We called all the country’s revolutionaries, all the communists, to go to the streets where this provocation occurred …
and to deal with it in a decisive, firm and brave way.” Government supporters held several counter demonstrations in Havana.
Social media shows some anti-government protests throughout the country, and cellular internet – only introduced in Cuba since 2018 – mostly cut off on Sunday afternoon.
The United States reacted quickly to the program that day.
“The US supports freedom of expression and assembly throughout Cuba, and will greatly condemn the violence or targeting of peaceful demonstrators who are doing their universal rights,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Twitter.
– Boiling public anger – one local in the San Antonio de Los Banos, provided anonymously, told AFP that he participated in the demonstration when he was annoyed by “the situation with electricity and food.” Public anger has been driven by long food lines, deteriorating power shortlines for several hours a day and lack of drugs that are critical since the start of the Covid-19 epidemic, with Cuba under US sanctions.
Cuba was experiencing the toughest phase but the Coronavirus epidemic, and on Sunday reported a record of new daily infections and deaths.
“The energy situation seems to have produced several reactions,” said Diaz-Canel to reporters at the San Antonio de Los Banos, blaming US sanctions imposed by Donald Trump and left unchanged by President Joe Biden.
He accused “Cuban-American Mafia” whipping protests on social media.
“People come to express their dissatisfaction with the situation they live in,” he admitted.
Diaz-Canel has been the president since 2018, successfully Raul Castro, who served as a leader after his brother Fidel Castro.
The only official meeting in Cuba is usually a communist party.
The state of 11.2 million people was left relatively unscathed in the first months of the Covid outbreak but had seen a recent increase in infection, with a new record of 6,923 cases of everyday reported Sundays and 47 deaths of 1.537.
“This is a worrying number that increases every day,” said Francisco Duran, head of epidemiology in the Ministry of Health.
Under tags such as #Soccuka, calls for assistance have multiplied on social media, with residents and music stars both urge the government to allow foreign donations that are needed to enter the country.
A group of opposition named Saturday for the creation of “Humanitarian Corridor,” an initiative rejected by the government by saying Cuba is not a conflict zone.
Ernesto Soberon, an overseas official, condemned the “campaign” he said trying to “describe the image of total chaos in the country that was not in accordance with the situation.”