Thousands of people marched through the streets of several cities of the Republic of Cuba as part of a protest against the Government. In response, President Miguel Diaz-Canel reacted by calling on pro-government supporters to defend his administration “in all places.” The first march in question was recorded in San Antonio de los Baños, a city near Havana, while the protests were replicated in at least six other cities, as well as in front of the Cuban embassies in Buenos Aires and Montevideo.At the same time, hundreds of pro-government supporters marched through Havana in support of the island’s authorities.
The mobilizations against the Díaz-Canel government were repeated at least in Alquízar, Bauta and Güira de Melena (in Artemisa province, as well as San Antonio de los Baños), Camagüey (Camagüey), San José de Las Lajas (Mayabeque) and Palma Soriano (Santiago de Cuba). The protesters, most of them young, chanted slogans such as “Fatherland and life,” “Down with the dictatorship” and “We are not afraid,” as seen in videos posted on social media. Soon after, Díaz-Canel denounced the alleged participation of the United States in “historic political destabilization actions that are taking place against Cuba and that have been particularly intensified during the coronavirus pandemic.” In a very subtle way, those who have never opposed the blockade (the economic embargo decreed by the United States in 1962), have now encouraged campaigns that seek to legitimize the idea that the Cuban government cannot control the pandemic,” the president said.
After Díaz-Canel’s speech, hundreds of supporters of his government marched through the streets of the capital. Since the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020, Cubans have been forced to stand in long lines to stock up on food and medicine, leading to growing social unrest. The protest came on a day in which Cuba again broke its daily record of infections and deaths from Covid-19, with 6,923 and 47 in the last 24 hours, respectively, bringing the cumulative total since the beginning of the pandemic to 238,491 cases and 1,537 deaths, according to the Ministry of Public Health.
