Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel is on the defensive.
The head of state accused the US government, Monday, July 12, of carrying out "a policy of economic suffocation to provoke social unrest" on the island, in the aftermath of historic protests, while Joe Biden called on him to "to hear his people".
In a speech broadcast on television and radio, the communist leader, surrounded by several of his ministers, assured that his government is trying to "face and overcome" the difficulties facing the American sanctions, reinforced since the mandate of the president American Donald Trump (2017-2021).
"What are they looking for? To provoke social unrest, to cause misunderstandings" among Cubans, but also "the famous change of regime", denounced the Cuban president.
Those behind these demonstrations "got the response they deserved and they will continue to have it, as in Venezuela", Cuba's great ally, he added.
>> To read: Historic demonstrations in Cuba against the government, which calls to "defend the revolution"
For his part, US President Joe Biden called in a statement "the Cuban regime to listen to its people and respond to their needs".
"We stand with the Cuban people and their vibrant call for freedom," he added.
The mobile Internet, which arrived in Cuba at the end of 2018, which allowed the live broadcast of around forty anti-government demonstrations across the island on Sunday, was cut off on Monday morning.
The streets of Havana were still crisscrossed by the police and the army, AFP journalists noted, but calm returned after the clashes the day before which led to dozens of arrests.
Russia warns of "foreign interference"
Exceeded by the economic crisis that worsened food and medicine shortages and pushed the government to cut electricity for several hours a day, thousands of Cubans spontaneously took to the streets of dozens of towns and villages on Sunday. country, with cries of "We are hungry", "Freedom" and "Down with the dictatorship".
An unprecedented mobilization in Cuba, where the only authorized gatherings are generally those of the Communist Party (PCC, single).
While he acknowledged the "dissatisfaction" that some Cubans may feel, Miguel Diaz-Canel also gave the revolutionaries "the order to fight" these gatherings in the street.
>> To read: In Cuba, Raúl Castro bows out and leaves room for the new generation
Great support from the Cuban authorities since Soviet times, Russia warned on Monday against any "foreign interference" in this crisis.
"We consider unacceptable any foreign interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and any other destructive action which would promote the destabilization of the situation on the island," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"We are convinced that the Cuban authorities are taking all necessary measures to restore public order in the interest of the citizens of the country," Moscow added, saying "to follow closely the development of the situation in and around Cuba" .
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, meanwhile, rejected any "interventionist" approach to the situation in Cuba and offered to send humanitarian aid.
Mexico can "help by providing medicines, vaccines, whatever is needed, as well as food, as health and food are basic human rights" which do not require "interventionist political management," said the leader of the left.
On Sunday evening, the US government warned that it "would strongly condemn any act of violence or aimed at targeting peaceful protesters who exercise their universal rights," according to a tweet from US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
The US supports freedom of expression and assembly across Cuba, and would strongly condemn any violence or targeting of peaceful protesters who are exercising their universal rights.
https://t.co/FjI8bUHoQE
- Jake Sullivan (@ JakeSullivan46) July 12, 2021
Sharp rise in coronavirus cases
"The National Security Advisor of the White House does not have the political or moral authority to speak about Cuba," reacted, Monday, the head of Cuban diplomacy, Bruno Rodriguez, on Twitter.
"His government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars for subversion in our country and it is imposing a genocidal blockade, the main culprit behind the economic shortcomings," he added.
El Asesor de Seguridad Nacional de la Casa Blanca carece de autoridad política y moral para hablar sobre #Cuba.
Su gobierno ha destinado cientos de millones de dólares para la subversión en nuestro país e impone un bloqueo genocida, main responsible for economic deficiencies.
- Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) July 12, 2021
Diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States, after a brief reconciliation between 2014 and 2016, are at their lowest since the tenure of Donald Trump which reinforced the embargo in force since 1962, denouncing human rights violations and support from Havana to the government of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.
These sanctions, as well as the absence of tourists due to the pandemic, plunged Cuba into a deep economic crisis and generated a strong social unrest, followed closely in Washington and on the American continent.
The protests also took place against a backdrop of a sharp rise in coronavirus cases on the island, with new contamination records every day.
In total, Cuba has officially recorded 238,491 cases, including 1,537 deaths, for 11.2 million inhabitants.
A situation that has prompted many Cubans to use the keyword #SOSCuba on social networks, to demand that external humanitarian aid be authorized by the government.
With AFP
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