Cuba Protests: Nationwide Unrest as Covid-19 Pandemic Increases Hunger

Anti-government protests broke out across Cuba against food shortages and high prices. The country is facing its worst economic crisis in decades as Covid-19 cases rise. Images on social media showed crowds in Havana, the provincial town of San Antonio de los Banos and elsewhere. Large mobilizations against the regime are rare on the tightly-controlled island, which strictly curbs dissent.

Cuban state media acknowledged the outbreak of anti-government demonstrations on Sunday and blamed the protests on its “neo-liberal” opponents.

“Those who fan these demonstrations don’t want the welfare of the people, but rather the privatization of health and education, and neo-liberalism,” state-controlled Prensa Latina cited President Miguel Diaz-Canel as saying.

Cuba has faced growing hunger after its economy was hit by a slump in tourist revenue since the pandemic struck. The government last year introduced emergency economic reforms in response to the downturn, including eliminating some subsidies, adjusting prices and wages, and ending the dual currency system.

“In an historic day of protests, the world is bearing witness as thousands of Cubans take to the streets to call for an end to dictatorship in their country,” said Democrat Senator Bob Menendez, the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a statement. “Despite ongoing persecution on the island, Cubans are bravely joining to demand nothing more than the ability to live safely and speak their minds, freely, openly, and without fear.”

Under the hot sun of a Havana afternoon, people began to arrive from all corners of the capital, including many young people, to join the protest, cut off the circulation of vehicles and headed towards the Malecón.

"Freedom", "Enough" and "Join" they chanted as the police arrived, who until then closely followed the protesters.

The protesters numbered about 4,000 in the vicinity of Avenida de Galeano, where the run-ins and the launching of tear gas by the police failed to dissuade people.

The protesters were applauded from many balconies on the central artery of the downtown Havana neighborhood.

Despite the fact that many people tried to take out their cell phones and broadcast live, the internet service was cut off by the authorities throughout Sunday afternoon.

The march through the streets in the center of Havana lasted about two-and-a-half hours, while the police violently arrested protesters.

A group of people related to the government arrived in the area shouting slogans in favor of late President Fidel Castro and the revolution, while attacking a cameraman and an AP photographer was beaten by police.

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