Cuba arrests more than 100 journalists and civil society activists
The Cuban government attributed the historic protests in the country that took place this weekend to US economic pressure and arrested a number of prominent activists.
Havana's streets were quiet on Monday, with only a heavy police presence. There were reports of disruptions to mobile internet, the only means by which most Cubans access the web.
Thousands of Cubans took to the streets of cities across the country from Havana to Santiago on Sunday in the biggest anti-government protests in decades on the communist-ruled island.
The protests focused on the country's economic crisis and the Cuban government's management of the coronavirus outbreak, but many protesters also went beyond this and called for the end of communist rule.
According to a report by the exiled human rights group Cobalex, at least 100 prominent activists and independent journalists have been arrested in Cuba since Sunday, some among protesters and others in their homes.
"Life here has become impossible," says Michael, a 21-year-old Havana resident. "I don't know if these protests will happen again, because Havana has become a barracks. However, the fear of Cubans is starting to dissipate."
Reuters writes that some Cubans also told the news agency that they hope the protests will not be repeated, because they are concerned about violence and prefer to talk to the government.
The protests come at the height of Cuba's economic crisis and a surge in coronavirus cases, the deepest economic crisis the country has faced since the collapse of its former ally, the Soviet Union.
Reuters writes that the tightening of US economic sanctions against Cuba during the presidency of Donald Trump and the spread of the pandemic have exacerbated food and medicine shortages in the country. Frequent power outages are also major issues that Cubans are facing today.
In a televised address to his cabinet that lasted more than four hours, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said that "a counter-revolutionary minority committed sedition."
Mr. Diaz-Canel also called on his supporters on Sunday to take to the streets and confront "provocative actions."
However, opponents say that the problem is Díaz-Canel himself and the communist one-party system in Cuba that has created these conditions in the country.
On the same day, US President Joe Biden supported Cuban protests against the ruling regime in the country, saying that the United States stands with the Cuban people for freedom and liberation from the coronavirus pandemic and decades of repression.
Among the slogans of Cuban protesters were "freedom" and "death to dictatorship."
Source: Radio Farda
