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Status: 07/14/2021 7:56 a.m.
These are the largest anti-government protests in Cuba for decades and they are accompanied by numerous arrests and now one of the first official fatalities. Several injured were taken to hospitals.
There was a first death in the anti-government protests in Cuba. According to the Cuban Interior Ministry, a man has died on the outskirts of Havana. The state-run Cuban news agency reported that it was a 36-year-old who was involved in the current unrest in Cuba. Several citizens and security officials were injured and taken to hospital, it said. “Organized groups of anti-social and criminal elements” tried to attack the police station in the suburb of La Guinera. The Interior Ministry “regretted” the death of the man.
The news was the first official confirmation of a death during the unrest in Cuba, which erupted on Sunday with nationwide protests. The largest anti-government protests for decades were sparked by the economic crisis and the handling of the corona pandemic. According to activists, the authorities of the Caribbean state are cracking down on the demonstrators. 144 people were arrested or missing, according to the San Isidro protest movement.
Arrest live on Spanish television
A YouTuber was arrested live on Spanish television. In the middle of the program “Todo es Mentira” on the Spanish broadcaster Cuatro on Tuesday, the young woman who calls herself Dina Stars suddenly interrupted another guest and said: “The security forces are out there.” The Cuban woman went to the door of her apartment in Havana, stepped back in front of the camera shortly afterwards and said that she would be taken away. “I blame the government for whatever happens to me,” she said.
Dina Stars had previously said in the interview about the demonstrations: “We need help. This is where people are being killed.” The people had nothing more to lose, she emphasized. “The people in Cuba are dying – they either starve to death or they get sick because there is no medication, or they are killed in a demonstration.”
In light of the protests, the Latin American country apparently restricted access to social media and messaging services. For example, Facebook and the group’s Instagram and WhatsApp as well as Telegram have been partially blocked since Monday, reported NetBlocks, an Internet monitoring company based in London. The Cuban government has not yet issued a statement. Also from Telegram and Facebook there was initially no comment. Twitter said it did not detect any malfunctions.
The US called on the country to lift restrictions on the Internet and “respect the voice of the people”. Access to “all means of communication” must be granted, “online and offline,” stressed US State Department spokesman Ned Price. US President Joe Biden had previously expressed his support for the protesters in Cuba.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas warned Cubans not to attempt the dangerous escape by sea to the USA because of the situation in their country. “Regardless of their nationality, migrants who are intercepted at sea are not allowed to enter the United States,” Mayorkas clarified.
Protests in Cuba: first dead, arrests and disappearances
Anne Demmer, RBB, July 14, 2021 6:47 am
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