A hundred people, including figures of dissent, were in detention Tuesday, July 13 in Cuba, two days after unprecedented protests against the government.

"On July 11, there was no social explosion in Cuba, there was none because of the will of our people and the support of our people for the Revolution and its government," he said. however declared the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodriguez, in a press conference. 

Like President Miguel Diaz-Canel before him, Bruno Rodriguez accused Washington of being behind the unprecedented demonstrations that broke out on Sunday on the socialist island in some forty towns and villages with cries of "We are hungry", "Freedom" and "Down with the dictatorship".

Dissidents in prison

As of Tuesday, some 130 people were imprisoned or reported as missing, according to a list of names posted on Twitter by the protest movement San Isidro.

Among them are José Daniel Ferrer and Manuel Cuesta Morua, two of the country's main dissidents.

The dissident organization Ladies in White also announced on Twitter the arrest of its leader Berta Soler.

# ATENCIÓN # 13Jul |

Listado de detenidos / desaparecidos en desarrollo, tras las protestas pacíficas en #Cuba desde el 11 de julio del 2021. (Imágenes siguen en hilo 1/3) pic.twitter.com/YgYiK85p1A

- Movimiento San Isidro (@Mov_sanisidro) July 13, 2021

While no official figure has been released concerning the arrests, families tried on Tuesday to obtain information from the police stations in the capital about their arrested relatives, AFP noted. 

The Interior Ministry announced, without giving details of the circumstances, that a protester had died Monday in the popular Güinera district, on the outskirts of Havana, while participating in the "unrest".

Spanish media journalist arrested

Earlier, US Assistant Secretary of State for the Americas Julie Chung denounced "the violence and arrests of Cuban protesters, as well as the disappearance of independent activists" citing Guillermo 'Coco' Fariñas - since released - José Daniel Ferrer, Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara and Amaury Pacheco.

"We call for their immediate release," she added.

Among those arrested was also Camila Acosta, a 28-year-old Cuban, according to the Madrid newspaper ABC, with which she had worked for six months.

"To arrest a journalist from a Spanish media, ABC, seems inappropriate to me," responded Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who called on Havana to respect the right of Cubans to "demonstrate freely". 

On Tuesday, a YouTuber, Dina Stars, was arrested at her home by police while speaking live on a Spanish television show, according to the latter.

Washington is building up the pressure

Apparent calm reigned Tuesday in the capital, still under a strong police, military and civilian presence.

But the mobile Internet, the engine of mobilizations, was still cut off.

The specialized Netblocks observatory reported disruptions in Cuba on major social networks and communications platforms, such as Whatsapp and Facebook.

Washington called for the speedy restoration of "all means of communication, online and offline."

"Closing the information channels ... does nothing to meet the legitimate needs and aspirations of the Cuban people," State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

The United States has indicated, however, that it will not allow Cubans who try to flee their countries in crisis by sea.

"Needs and Hopes"

On the island, Catholic bishops called on the government and protesters to "come to an understanding" to avoid violence, as protests turned into clashes with law enforcement.

While they highlighted the government's efforts to deal with the economic crisis, "the people have the right to express their needs, desires and hopes," they said in a statement.

The demonstrations, unprecedented since 1994, angered the Communist government.

"We will avoid revolutionary violence, but we will suppress counter-revolutionary violence," President Diaz-Canel warned on Monday. 

Several demonstrations by supporters of the regime took place on Sunday and then Monday, with sometimes violent clashes between the two camps.

Raul Castro comes out of retirement

A sign of the gravity of the situation, Raul Castro, 90, had to come out of retirement.

The former leader of the 1959 Cuban revolution, with his brother Fidel, left the reins of the Communist Party (PCC, sole) in April to Miguel Diaz-Canel, who had succeeded him as president in 2018.

He attended a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Sunday in which "were analyzed the provocations orchestrated by counterrevolutionary elements, organized and financed from the United States with destabilization objectives," Granma said on Tuesday. , official journal of the party.

With AFP

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