Status: 07/12/2021 4:01 a.m.
The communist island state is in crisis. The pandemic has caused the already weak economy to collapse further. Against this, resistance is now forming. Thousands took to the streets.
From Anne Demmer,
ARD studio Mexico City
Thousands of demonstrators gathered on the streets of Cuba yesterday – in Havana, Santiago de Cuba, all the way to Pinar del Río. “Libertad” they chanted – freedom. “Down with dictatorship, down with communism” they sang in choirs. You want a change. They are angry about the ongoing power outages, the lack of medicine, food, the long lines in front of the shops, the corona policy.
“We are fed up with the repression. We are dying of hunger. We have nothing, we have no houses. But the government has money to build hotels and they let us starve,” Geovanis Gonzalez said angrily to the Reuters news agency. Activists called for the anti-government protests on social networks: Videos are shared under the hashtag #SOSCuba.
Corona and sanctions
The socialist Caribbean island is suffering from a severe economic crisis, the consequences of the pandemic and the US embargo. The tourists stay away, the main source of foreign currency. Even under the new US President Joe Biden, the sanctions were not relaxed.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel responded promptly to protests across the country. In a speech to the population broadcast nationwide on television and radio, he blamed the United States for the unrest: “We will not see any counterrevolutionary who has sold himself to the United States receive money from them, our country destabilized. We call on all revolutionaries, all communists – take to the streets, go where these provocations are taking place. Today and in the next few days. ”
Security forces vehicles patrolled the streets with machine guns. In San Antonio de los Baños, President Miguel Díaz-Canel himself mingled with his supporters.
Crisis, lack and anger
Pictures shared on social networks show demonstrators being led away by plainclothes security forces. Cuban government supporters hold clubs in their hands. In the October 10th district, which is particularly marked by poverty and violence, angry demonstrators overturned a police car. The Spanish “AP” photographer Ramón Espinosa can be seen in a photo with injuries, his face is smeared with blood.
In recent months, artists, including those from the San Isidro movement, have caused a stir with protests and hunger strikes. The government repeatedly proceeded with arrests and house arrest against them. This time it is mainly people from the poorest neighborhoods who join the demonstrations, as a Cuban journalist reports on WhatsApp. The Internet is being restricted again and again, she reports.
Just a few months ago, President Miguel Díaz also took over the presidency of the Communist Party. He is considered loyal and loyal to the line. But the pressure on him is growing: the crisis, the shortage, the anger at the repression are driving people onto the streets.