Remarkable protest in Cuba: ‘Stop the dictatorship’ | Abroad

The protesters chanted slogans such as “stop the dictatorship” and “homeland and life,” a variation of the revolutionary rallying cry “homeland or death.” According to protest participants with whom the BBC spoke, the protest was staged on social media. One of them said: “We are not afraid. We want change, we don’t want a dictatorship anymore.”

Footage of the demonstrations was broadcast live via the internet. The Cuban authorities seemed busy intercepting those live streams, but when the broadcasts ended in one city, new ones started in other cities.

Cuba’s communist president Miguel Diaz-Canel has now called on supporters to take action against protesters who take to the streets. The Cuban leader wants his followers to face the “provocations”. Supporters would be willing to defend the government “with their lives.”

Jeeps of the special security forces, armed with machine guns, drove around the capital Havana.

In his appeal, the president held the United States responsible for the unrest. He was responding to the unusual protests by Cubans. They feel neglected by those in power during the worst economic crisis in thirty years.

The economic crisis in Cuba is partly a result of the corona pandemic. There is also a shortage of medicines in the country. In addition, due to the crisis in much of the country, the authorities were forced to cut off electricity for several hours a day.

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