As a result of the deteriorating living conditions
Cubans take to the streets in unprecedented protests
Cuban protesters decided that now was the time for change in their country.
EPA
Cuban President: Protesters are criminals and vultures.
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Biden: We've never seen such demonstrations before.
AFP
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Cubans have always been patient and creative in the face of difficult life, and the lack of their daily needs, but over the past few years, the ability to overcome their difficult life has become a reality.
The relationship with the United States is a measure of optimism or pessimism about the future of Cubans.
When former US President Barack Obama announced during his 2016 trip to Havana that he had come to Cuba “to bury the remnants of the Cold War in the Americas,” the Cuban people breathed a sigh of relief, and that was the beginning of hope.
Unfulfilled hopes
The Cubans had hoped that improved relations with Washington would make their government ease some restrictions on their lives on this communist island, but less than a year later, President Donald Trump came to power, promptly re-establishing the Cold War conflict between the two countries.
Trump has restricted the ability of American citizens to visit Cuba, canceled ship voyages from the United States to Cuba, canceled the billions of dollars that Cuban Americans were sending to the island in remittances, and returned Cuba to the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Despite the Cuban state reeling under the weight of mounting sanctions, as well as the restrictions of the Cuban government itself, the Corona pandemic has joined the scene.
Tourism stopped, because the island was completely closed, and Cubans living abroad could no longer send medicines and money smuggled to their families.
With the Cuban government short of money, it began imposing more taxes.
Through the daily weather to bring food, Cubans are gathering in large numbers to buy these materials, which has made them exposed to more infections with the “Corona” disease, and the Cubans have the choice to either starve or be infected with “Corona”, as cases of infection on the island have risen to rates big.
growing frustration
The government of President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba's first non-Castro president, has spoken of plans to modernize the country's economy, but senior officials seem to realize that this has had no effect on an increasingly frustrated population.
"People do not eat plans," Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz said during a television interview, but a few days ago, demonstrations spread in various Cuban cities.
In San Antonio de los Banos, a city of about 46,000 people west of Havana, hundreds of people took to the streets, fed up with a week-long power outage in the sweltering July heat.
After pictures of the demonstrations spread on social media, Cubans began to take to the streets in large numbers, in the largest demonstration in decades, perhaps since the revolution of former Cuban President Fidel Castro in 1953. In Havana, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of lines of police, and they chanted for freedom. Although anti-government demonstrations are prohibited in Cuba, protesters were not afraid of being arrested, and the government responded by sending in riot police, who arrested dozens, and a video was circulated on social media, showing protesters throwing stones at police cars. By the end of an eventful day, the heavily armed police and armed forces had taken control of the streets in Havana and other parts of Cuba.
These unprecedented demonstrations stunned both the American and Cuban governments.
"In fact, we've never seen such demonstrations before," US President Joe Biden said, and Biden warned the Cuban government against repressing the brave Cubans.
The next day, after a lengthy meeting of the Cuban government, the Cuban president declared that the demonstrators were criminals.
"They hit police cars with stones, which is quite vulgar behaviour," he added.
Cuban government officials later said that there were no longer any protests, after they cut off the Internet and prevented Cubans from sending pictures to each other, which sparked the protests in the first place.
It is not known how long this uneasy peace will last.
Although the government has regained control, the conditions that made Cubans risk everything and demand change remain.
A first step after the protests
The Cuban government announced, the day before yesterday, a first series of measures to calm the anger of the population, by facilitating the entry of foodstuffs and medicines, after three days of historic demonstrations, from which Havana acknowledged that it had "learned lessons".
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said that the government decided to "allow, on an exceptional and temporary basis, that passengers bring with them in their bags foodstuffs, hygiene products and medicines, without a maximum value, and without customs taxes on them."
"This measure will be in effect until December 31," he added during a television program in which President Miguel Diaz-Canel and several ministers participated.
Facilitating the entry of necessities to the island was one of the demands raised by the protesters who took to the streets, after the stifling economic crisis in their country, the worst in 30 years, caused an acute shortage of food and medicine, and prompted the government to ration electricity for many hours a day.
In an open letter published recently, a group of intellectuals and academics called on the authorities to provide such facilities.
For his part, the Minister of Economy, Alejandro Gil, announced the end of the maximum salary cap in state institutions that were subject to a strict salary scale.
He said, "We remove the limit imposed on the wage scales of state institutions, first according to the principle of earning more if we produce more wealth, and if we are more efficient."
Finally, the Prime Minister announced that the residents would be allowed temporarily to live in another city, and to benefit from the "La Liberta" supply book, when this was impossible before.
The president issued "a call for peace, understanding and respect among Cubans," adding that "what we must encourage, even if we sometimes have different views on some issues, is to try among ourselves to find solutions."
• The tourism movement has stopped due to the complete closure of the island, and Cubans living abroad can no longer send medicines and money through smuggling to their families.
• When Trump came to power, he immediately reinstated the Cold War conflict with Cuba, restricted Americans' ability to visit Cuba, canceled ship voyages from the United States to Cuba, blocked billions of dollars in remittances from Cuban Americans to the island, and returned Cuba to the list of countries sponsor of terrorism.
Patrick Opman, CNN correspondent in Havana
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