Protest in Cuba, which have been widely shown on social media, started early morning on Sunday. They are a rare phenomenon to happen under a country ruled by the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC).
“End to the dictatorship!” or “Country and life!” are the titles of the controversial chanting made by various protesters in San Antonio de Los Baños, a small town of 50 thousand people, 30 kilometres out of Havana, Cuba.
Other protests were reported and live-streamed through Facebook and Twitter. Internet became available in Cuba in 2018.
The protests, rare in a country where public dissent is tightly restricted, largely died down by Sunday evening, as security forces were deployed to the streets and President Miguel Diaz-Canel called on government supporters to go out and fight to defend their revolution.
The military was sent to San Antonio de los Baños to confront protesters. Miguel Díaz-Canel, president of Cuba, was also present at the spot and was accompanied by a military squad.
Cuban American Mafia
The first cases of Covid-19 on the island were initially reported in March 2020. The pandemic has sent Cuba into its worst economic crisis in 30 years.
Every day, Cubans wait long hours in line to obtain small rations of food. Medical supplies are also scarce, which has generated a wave of grave anger in their society. Economic difficulties have forced authorities to cut out electricity for long hours every day in several parts of the country.
Many Cubans blame the United States for their situation, especially sanctions made by Donald Trump and the lack of initiative from Joe Biden to overturn them.
#SOSCuba
The protest began on a day when Cuba reported a new record of Covid-19 cases and deaths. 6 thousand 923 cases were reported, and 47 deaths in only 24 hours, which makes it a total of 1 thousand 537 deaths.
Under the hashtags, #SOSCuba and #SOSMatanza (the name of the most affected province), petitions for help began to rise in social media and calls towards to government to ease restrictions that stop them from receiving international help.
On Saturday, a group from the opposition requested to government to allow a humanitarian corridor, but their request was denied.
The government has said that the protests aim to “portray an image of chaos which doesn’t correspond to the country’s actual situation”.
