The fact that the regime in Havana immediately spoke of provocateurs controlled by America came as no surprise to anyone in Washington.

It corresponds to the usual reflexes of the Cuban communists.

In the White House they were also prepared.

It was already clear that Jen Psaki would comment on the largest protests in Cuba in decades.

The president's spokeswoman had previously published a statement by Joe Biden.

Majid Sattar

Political correspondent for North America based in Washington.

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Psaki said on Monday that "all the signs" suggest that the demonstrations are a spontaneous expression of the Cuban people - in the face of mismanagement and oppression. Then: The harsh reality of everyday life in Cuba fueled the protest - and not someone in another country. She said this consciously as there were a number of allegations. Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken later added, “I think it would be a grave mistake for the Cuban regime to interpret what is happening in dozens of places and cities across the island as the result or product of something that the United States has done have. ”That would only show that one does not listen to the voices and the will of the Cuban people.

The statement previously published on Biden's behalf stated that Havana must respect the rights of its people, including the right to peaceful protest and the right to freely determine its own future.

"The United States calls on the Cuban regime to listen to its people and serve their needs at this crucial moment, instead of enriching itself." The president also spoke of "decades of oppression" by the regime.

"You have to go over our corpses"

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel turned to his compatriots on state television on Monday. He spoke of a historic day for the defense of the Cuban revolution and blamed the "economic blockade" of the United States for the shortcomings in Cuba. Attempts were made on social media to manipulate emotions to create dissatisfaction and to divide Cubans. The sovereignty of his country must be respected, he said. On Sunday he even said: "If you want to defeat the revolution, you have to go over our corpses."

“The revolution” is the regime. And this had already shown how it intends to deal with the protests in view of the economic crisis exacerbated by the pandemic, the shortage of food and medicines and the constant power outages. Security forces took action against the demonstrators and used tear gas and plastic pipes as batons. Quite a few Cubans were arrested. The protests represent a serious crisis for President Díaz-Canel, who in April also took over the leadership of the Communist Party (PCC) in the one-party state from Raúl Castro.

Despite the swift and clear response from Washington, this second Caribbean crisis - after the assassination of the President of Haiti - makes it clear that the Biden administration still has no strategy for dealing with the region that has long been the backyard America was considered. Does the President want to return to the policy of rapprochement that Barack Obama pursued, although the hoped-for opening of the country did not materialize, even from the point of view of critics in the Democratic Party? Or does he want to stick to the tightening that the Trump administration imposed? Given the challenge of the pandemic and foreign policy fixation on China and Russia, Washington still lacks a Latin America strategy, especially since the middle tier of the State Department is still not fully occupied.