More mass protests in Cuba
Protests in Havana against the government of Cuba [ 14ymedio ]
More mass protests broke out initially in Santiago de Cuba province on March 17, 2024, and despite mass mobilization of repressive forces, the existing new draconian penal code, and a mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of disaffected Cubans, protests spread to four others ( Artemisa, Granma, Holguin, and Matanzas ). Protests were largely shutdown by March 19th, and reports of arbitrary detentions are being documented.
Prisoners Defenders (PD) is reporting 32 arbitrary detentions between March 17th and March 19th connected to protests that broke out first in Santiago de Cuba and spread across the island. According to Javier Larrondo, director of Prisoners Defenders, a Spain based NGO, the province with the most arbitrary detentions identified during the 17M protests is Holguin with 13 detained, followed Santiago de Cuba (7), Havana (4), Cienfuegos (2) and Artemisa (2).
Austerity package imposed in March 2024
On the evening of January 9, 2024 Cuban officials announced that gas prices would be raised 528%, fares for trains and inter-provincial buses would increase in cost by 180% in February 2024, This came on top of Prime Minister Manuel Marrero's December 2023 announcement that the MIPYMES, an acronym for new private businesses, would be subjected to higher taxes, higher import fees, and a 25% increase in the electric bill. Their internal surveillance mechanisms most likely told regime officials that it would lead protests, and the austerity measures were delayed until March 1, 2024. News also emerged at this time of shortages of flour and powdered milk.
CFC’s Janisset Rivero was interviewed by Scripps News Service.
"There is no economic freedom. There is no political freedom. There's nothing in Cuba," said Janisset Rivero with the Center for a Free Cuba, a nonprofit group of Cuban exiles pushing for regime change on the island.
Rivero migrated to Miami in the early 1990s and still has family in Cuba. "When I left the island, I couldn't see them again," she said. "So, I miss my family — the family I left there." What is happening now is dire, Rivero said.
Solidarity
On March 18th while protests continued in Cuba, Cubans and Cuban Americans protested outside the Cuban Embassy to demonstrate their solidarity with their counterparts in the island.
Journalist Jacqueline Quynh reported in a story for WUSA9, on March 21st that explained the reasons for the protests on the island, and in the District.
"Imagine, 30 eggs cost you from 2,000 to 3,000 Cuban pesos, and people's pension for somebody over 65 is 2,500," Roque lamented. While he finds it difficult to discern the true extent of the situation, Roque is adamant that the people in Cuba need assistance.
"They're left to suffer, and if they speak out, they're rounded up and arrested," said John Suarez, Executive Director of the group. The organization is advocating for the release of prisoners they claim were peacefully protesting. "Our message to the American people and the Biden administration is to stop trying to placate the dictatorship and directly aid the Cubans on the island."
Cuban dictatorship’s double discourse
Santiago’s Communist Party boss, Beatriz Johnson, claimied that Cuban protesters weren’t against her, and Raul Castro’s hand picked “President” Miguel Díaz-Canel used Twitter to describe the protests as “various people” having “expressed their dissatisfaction with the situation of electrical service and food distribution.” He pledged, that his government stands ready “to attend to the complaints of our people.” This was for foreign consumption.
Domestically, a different tone, and message was sent regarding nonviolent demonstrators.
Sierra Maestra, the local official newspaper organ of the Communist Party in Santiago de Cuba, published an article that vilified the demonstrators who took to the streets on March 17th across Cuba. Calling the protests a “degrading spectacle,” the author used all kinds of derogatory epithets to refer to the people who participated in the peaceful demonstrations. Mayté García Tintoré, the author of the officially sanctioned piece, called those who raised their voices against the blackouts, food shortages and mismanagement of the government “lazy”, “disengaged”, and “parasites”.
Freedom of expression punished.
Translation: “Hey Las Tunas what? You put it on 4 you turn it off five and six. Are we going to stay like that?”
Victor Manuel Hidalgo Cabrales posted the above cartoon on his Facebook page criticizing the power outages, and it has led to his ongoing detention in the Provincial Instruction in the province of Las Tunas in Cuba. He was approached by state security at his home within an hour of posting the cartoon, and asked to take it down. He agreed to, but was unable to do so due to a power outage, went to sleep and was woken up by a massive state security operation, and taken away.
Victor Manuel Hidalgo Cabrales taken away by state security for a Facebook post.
The wife of Victor Manuel Hidalgo Cabrales made a video recording describing in detail how her husband was jailed for expressing an opinion in a Facebook post about the prolonged power outages.
What should be done next?
Cuban intellectuals on and off the island are speaking out, but their advice is not being heeded by officials.
The Christian Liberation Movement, a dissident movement based in Cuba, issued a statement on March 20, 2024 in which they call on the international community to take two concrete actions in response to regime repression.
The immediate solidarity of the world with the legitimate right of Cubans to live in freedom and prosperity, expressed in concrete actions and not in political rhetoric without direct consequences in tyranny.
A policy of exclusion and isolation of the Havana communist party regime in response to the continuous repression and segregation by the power group and the military.
The Christian Liberation Movement {MCL in Spanish] warns that continuing to legitimize and engage with the regime and continuing to accept its logic of imposed blackmail and violence, not taking the people of Cuba as a reference and independent voice, will lead to bloodshed, and once that is underway, it will be too late for the international community to act, but this warning by MCL means that they will not be able to say they didn’t know.
The Wall Street Journal, March 24, 2024
Cuba Is Starving Its People
The island’s latest hunger crisis is made in Havana. Don’t believe the propaganda blaming U.S. sanctions.
Cubans took last week to the streets of Santiago, and other smaller cities on the eastern side of the island, to protest extreme food and medicine shortages and power outages. Some chanted “libertad” and “patria y vida.” The crowds mocked government officials.
In many ways it was a replay of July 11, 2021, when antigovernment protests exploded spontaneously across the island. Except this time Havana was prepared. It’s well aware of the hardship it created with its March 1 austerity package, sharply increasing food and fuel prices, and it anticipated the popular upheaval. Part of its planned response was to frame itself for international media as a kinder, gentler military dictatorship victimized by U.S. Cuba policy.
Step one was to cut off cellphone and internet signals immediately to stop the rapid dissemination of live events. Video of goons beating the tar out of unarmed civilians, as happened three summers ago during islandwide protests, would have embarrassed U.S. lawmakers like Rep. James McGovern (D., Mass.), who use their seats on Capitol Hill to argue the regime’s case against Cuba sanctions. It’s also no way to win over ethical members of Congress.
[ Full article ]
Scripps News, March 22, 2024
Cuban exile community in US keeping watchful eye on protests in Cuba
Large crowds gathered in cities in Cuba to protest a dwindling supply of food and fuel on an island where electricity blackouts are now commonplace.
Posted: 3:10 p.m. EDT Mar 22, 2024
The grainy and often shaky cellphone videos, posted on social media, paint part of the picture of what's going on inside of Cuba.
This past week, large crowds gathered in several cities to protest a dwindling supply of food and fuel, on an island where electricity blackouts are now commonplace. Such protests are rare.
"There is no economic freedom. There is no political freedom. There's nothing in Cuba," said Janisset Rivero with the Center for a Free Cuba, a nonprofit group of Cuban exiles pushing for regime change on the island.
Rivero migrated to Miami in the early 1990s and still has family in Cuba.
"When I left the island, I couldn't see them again," she said. "So, I miss my family — the family I left there."
What is happening now is dire, Rivero said.
This week, state-run media there reported, and the World Food Programme confirmed to Scripps News, that the island nation asked the international food aid agency for help in the form of powdered milk for all Cuban children under the age of 7.
"The situation is critical," Rivero said. "There is no transportation, there is no food, there is no electricity, there is no water — not even water."
Eduardo Gamarra, a professor of international affairs at Florida International University, also said the Cuban economy is not doing well.
"Its economy is absolutely at ground zero," he said.
Despite that, though, Gamarra said these latest protests came as a surprise for one main reason: More than a half-million Cubans have left the island and sought refuge in the U.S., just since 2021.
"It's not a surprise that there are demonstrations, in the sense that the conditions are so bad," Gamarra said. "It's just that, given the repression and that so many people left, I guess it's a wonder, is there anybody left there to protest?"
He said many Cubans left the island by obtaining visas to countries in Central America and then made the trek to the U.S. southern border.
In the past three years, about 300,000 of them settled in Miami-Dade County alone, adding to the Cuban-American community already established there. Miami's Little Havana neighborhood is the heart of the Cuban-American community in the United States. More than 2.7 million Cubans and Cuban Americans now call the U.S. home.
Cuban officials often blame the island's poor economy on a long-standing U.S. trade embargo. However, the latest protests came on the heels of the Cuban government firing its economy minister, Alejandro Gil Fernández, earlier this month. They are now investigating him for "serious mistakes."
"So, the situation is bad enough so that the government is saying maybe we need to rethink our economic policy," Gamarra said, "but nothing is going to change in Cuba, policy-wise, in my opinion, at least until the regime changes — and that's unlikely to happen in the near term."
Still, many Cubans in the U.S. said they would like to see regime change soon, including Janisset Rivero.
"When Cuba is free, I will definitely go back to help in the reconstruction," Rivero said.
Until then, the two Cuban communities will be living very different lives — 90 miles apart.
WUSA9, March 21, 2024
DMV residents stand in solidarity with people of Cuba amid protests
Locals warn of a humanitarian crisis as thousands on island struggle to have enough food and power
Author: Jacqueline Quynh
Published: 5:23 PM EDT March 21, 2024
WASHINGTON — Protests have erupted in Cuba since Sunday, with hundreds taking to the streets to demand food and protest against the lack of electricity. Meanwhile, 1,200 miles away here in the District, many are uniting to raise awareness about what is happening inside the communist country.
Many believe it's a humanitarian crisis. Angel Roque, an executive chef with Cuba Libre Restaurant & Rum Bar, is originally from Havana. He spoke with WUSA9 about his concerns.
"I won't sleep well until they get back on Saturday," Roque said.
Roque explained that his wife and daughter are in Havana, endeavoring to assist his mother-in-law.
"They're in Havana, and imagine, for them to be there, my wife has to buy a lot of food," Roque said.
Experts attribute Cuba's food shortage and power problem to its economic crisis.
"Imagine, 30 eggs cost you from 2,000 to 3,000 Cuban pesos, and people's pension for somebody over 65 is 2,500," Roque lamented. While he finds it difficult to discern the true extent of the situation, Roque is adamant that the people in Cuba need assistance.
On Monday, the Center for a Free Cuba protested outside the Cuban Embassy to draw attention to the worsening conditions on the island.
"They're left to suffer, and if they speak out, they're rounded up and arrested," said John Suarez, Executive Director of the group. The organization is advocating for the release of prisoners they claim were peacefully protesting. "Our message to the American people and the Biden administration is to stop trying to placate the dictatorship and directly aid the Cubans on the island."
Frank Calzon, who helped start the Center 22 years ago to advocate for a free Cuba, expressed uncertainty about whether these protests signal a regime change but noted a trend.
"Last year, there was a similar uprising, and now again, and we're not even in the summer yet," Calzon said. "Looking at the evidence and facts, the trend suggests that something is going to happen, and this trend has been accelerating over time."
Calzon warns that if nothing is done, Cuban people will continue to flee the island by any means possible, even risking their lives to do so.
Diario de Cuba, March 21, 2024
'There's nothing more political than hunger.' Intellectuals and artists react to the protests in Cuba.
Alina Bárbara López Hernández, Ulises Toirac, Yotuel, Randy Malcom, Osmani García, Cuqui la Mora, La Diosa, Leoni Torres, Daymé Arocena and others weigh in on the situation in Cuba, all of them sending the same message: 'No to violence'.
DDC
Madrid 21 Mar 2024 - 16:29 CET
Cuban Comedian Ulises Toirac, one of those who has commented on the current situation on the island. Ulises Toirac/Facebook
After the protests this Sunday in Santiago de Cuba and other cities in the country, which triggered frays over the course of Monday and Tuesday, prompting major police deployments on Cuban streets, there have been several intellectuals and artists have spoken out on social media.
Through a live broadcast on the Facebook profile of the organization Cuba X Cuba, historian Alina Bárbara López Hernández asked the Government "to understand the gravity of what is happening in the country, and to assume its responsibilities, which is a substantial part of the current situation, and to avoid, by every means possible, crackdowns on people who are demonstrating peacefully."
From the Parque de la Libertad (park) in Matanzas, where the intellectual demonstrates on the 18th of each month, she demanded that the authorities respect the people's right to peaceful demonstration. Regarding the regime's downplaying of the protests and efforts to depoliticize them, López Hernández stated: "There's nothing more political than hunger, than not being able to feed a child."
In her message she also reserved a few words for those who have demonstrated in recent days, and to those who plan to continue doing so: "Let's try to respect civic spaces. Peaceful demonstration is a right, and one should not be ashamed, but let's avoid violence by all means... we have a voice, but that voice must should not be raised with violence."
The intellectual also stated that "we have a historical responsibility, and that is why it's important that we realize what is happening." Regarding her presence in the park, and the behavior of repressive authorities in response to her civic act of protest, she said, "I haven't been bothered. There are people who are very aware of what I'm doing, but that doesn't worry me: I'm expressing myself freely. I wish everyone could do the same thing."
Comedian Ulises Toirac, meanwhile, wrote on his Facebook profile: "An increasing number of people are facing extreme economic situations, without a drastic change of course in sight that could give people a modicum of hope. More serious than the lack of hope is the absence of any glimpse of it in the future."
"I'm not inciting anyone to violence. Personally, I hate violence, and consider it only as a last and desperate resort," he said, calling on the authorities to take into account "the desperate situation of families. Hopefully things don't get out of hand in a catastrophic way. They're already out of control. They have been for a while," he concluded.
Singer Yotuel Romero, who wrote the song "Patria y Vida," which has become a protest anthem in Cuba, transmitted a message to the Cuban military through his Instagram account: "You're not allowed on their planes, you're not in their plans, you're not part of their families, but it's not too late to stand by the Cuban people, because you're going to confront the anger of a people thirsting for freedom, thirsting for life, thirsting for hope."
Along the same lines was the message of the reggaeton artist Osmani García, who echoed the messages against violence and added: "The only way is for those weapons to no longer to defend those who have made us hungry, by force, without even giving us the right to say that we're hungry."
Likewise, singer Randy Malcolm, a member of the urban music duo Gente de Zona, wrote on his Instagram account: "Your Revolution is useless, it's a failure, and you turn a blind eye for your personal benefit... There are desperate mothers and fathers who have no way to feed their children. Nothing works in your repulsive Revolution; not the health system, or education, or food. The people need a change, and it's urgent. Release all the political prisoners, now."
For his part, singer Leoni Torres wrote on his Instagram account: "Sooner or later, it will come!" Fellow singer Lenier Mesa demanded "freedom for my brothers, an end to hunger, an end to abuse."
The comedian Cuqui la Mora issued a message on her Instagram account in which she stated that "freedom is near. Demanding your rights is not a crime; peacefully, without violence; it's time to remove them from power. United, the world supports you, we won't abandon you, don't let them take you," he said.
Along the same lines was the message from actress and singer La Diosa, who, through a live broadcast on her Facebook profile, said: "It's time for all of us to go out together. Don't be afraid. The world is watching."
In addition, the singer and former member of the popular group Los Van Van, Yeny Valdés, wrote on her Instagram account: "In the name of an ideology and a party, you can't condemn an entire people to suffer from hunger and misery, you can't play with the lives of children and old people. It's humanly detestable. I demand respect for those people who are voluntarily and peacefully demonstrating in the street today. No to violence, and respect for freedom," the singer concluded.
"What worries me most about the situation in Cuba is how brutish the police and military have become. I cannot understand how they can attack someone who is demanding from the Communist Party the same things that affect him," said singer Daymé Arocena.
All of those cited in this article, with the exception of Alina Bárbara López Hernández and Ulises Toirac, reside outside of Cuba.
https://diariodecuba.com/cuba/1711034987_53639.html
Declaration of the Christian Liberation Movement
The Cuban people are expressing themselves against tyranny. Cubans in July 2021 and many times all these years have demanded their freedom. They have done it with great disadvantage and loneliness in the streets of the island and in exile because democratic powers have rarely paid attention and shown solidarity with Cubans as with other peoples in the past and in present times.
Regarding the Cuban communist tyranny, the United States does not have a concrete and coherent policy; the positions of Canada, Europe, Latin America and other democracies, cooperating and recognizing the monopoly of a single party, touch the limits of complicity.
It seems that the voice of the victims does not matter and the world accepts the executioners as legitimate interlocutors. It is also a reality that a group of Cuban emigrants are more interested in the possibility of submitting and sharing business with those who have segregated and repressed Cubans, including themselves.
The Christian Liberation Movement demands:
1-The immediate solidarity of the world with the legitimate right of Cubans to live in freedom and prosperity, expressed in concrete actions and not in political rhetoric without direct consequences in tyranny.
2-A policy of exclusion and isolation of the Havana communist party regime in response to the continuous repression and segregation by the power group and the military.
The Christian Liberation Movement warns that continuing to delay the repudiation and concrete isolation of a criminal tyranny and continuing to accept its logic imposed with blackmail and violence, not taking the people of Cuba as a reference and interlocutor, will cause the fatal bleeding of Cubans to be irreversible. for our Nation. Acting at that time will be too late.
Freedom and Life!
All Cubans, All Brothers and Now Freedom
Tony Diaz Sánchez Regis Iglesias Ramirez
Secretary General Spokesperson
Christian Liberation Movement,
March 20, 2024.
https://mcliberacion.org/2024/03/declaracion-del-movimiento-cristiano-liberacion-20-de-marzo-2024/
Crisis24 March 19th, 2024
Cuba: Protests denouncing food shortages and power outages possible across country through at least late March
Protests denouncing food shortages, power outages possible across Cuba through at least late March amid economic crisis; clashes possible.
Protests denouncing food shortages, power outages, and price hikes may materialize in areas across Cuba, including in Havana, through at least late March amid the country's deepening economic crisis. Related demonstrations of various sizes have been reported in recent days in the following locations, among others, with hundreds of people participating in protests in Santiago de Cuba, Santiago de Cuba Province:
Artemisa Province: Protest activity reported in San Antonio de los Banos.
Granma Province: Protest activity reported in Bayamo.
Holguin Province: Protest activity reported in Cacocum.
Matanzas Province: Protest activity reported in Santa Marta.
Santiago de Cuba Province: Protest activity reported in El Cobre and Santiago de Cuba.
Officials have reportedly implemented internet and telecommunications restrictions in some areas. Security forces have also arrested some protesters and attempted to forcibly disperse demonstrations.
Authorities will likely deploy a heightened security presence to the sites of any additional demonstrations and may close roads to facilitate security operations. Security forces will probably attempt to forcibly disperse any protests that materialize and arrest rally participants. Clashes between protesters and security forces cannot be ruled out. Transport, business, and telecommunications disruptions will likely affect any areas that are subject to protest activity and heightened security measures.