In an unprecedented popular movement in Cuba, several cities witnessed protests against the poor economic and living conditions calling for the overthrow of the government, while US President Joe Biden urged the Cuban regime to "listen to its people."
The protesters raised slogans calling for the overthrow of what they described as dictatorship, and accused the government of mismanaging the Corona crisis, demanding fair access to vaccines.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel called on his supporters to take to the streets to respond to the opposition protests.
The president accused what he called the Cuban-American mafia of being behind what the country is witnessing.
On the other hand, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Monday that the Cuban president was making a "grave mistake" in blaming the United States for the unprecedented protests that took place on the island.
Blinken answered reporters who asked him about the Cuban president's statements, saying, "It would be a grave mistake by the Cuban regime to interpret what is happening in dozens of cities across the island as the result of some American action."
Biden calls on the Cuban regime to listen to its people
On Monday, the US President urged the Cuban regime to "listen to its people and their resounding call for freedom" in a statement issued by the White House in the wake of unprecedented demonstrations against the regime in Cuba.
"The United States calls on the Cuban regime to listen to its people and meet their needs at this critical juncture, rather than increase their wealth," Biden said in the statement.
We stand with the Cuban people as they bravely assert their fundamental and universal rights, and as they all call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering.
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— President Biden (@POTUS) July 12, 2021
"We stand with the Cuban people in their resounding call for freedom and to escape the clutches of the pandemic, the decades of oppression and economic suffering caused by the authoritarian regime," Biden said.
"Cubans are courageously exercising their basic rights. These rights must be respected, including the right to peaceful protest and the right to free self-determination," the US president added.
The European Union on Monday called on the Cuban authorities to allow the demonstrations and "listen" to the people's discontent.
"We support the peoples' right to peaceful expression and we call on the authorities to allow the demonstrations and to listen to the discontent of the demonstrators," EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said after a meeting in Brussels of the bloc's foreign ministers.
Thousands of people took to the streets across Cuba this weekend to protest the Caribbean country's economic hardship and handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The size of the protests are a rare occurrence in Cuba, which has been controlled by a communist government for decades.
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— NowThis (@nowthisnews) July 12, 2021
Russia warns
In contrast to Western positions, Russia warned on Monday against any "external interference" in Cuba.
"We consider it unacceptable that there is external interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state or any subversive actions that would encourage the destabilization of the situation on the island," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.
Zakharova did not give details about who might be seeking to intervene in Cuba, but the warning appears to be directed at the United States, which urged Havana not to target protesters, and where thousands of Cuban Americans took to the streets in support of the demonstrations.