For the first time in years, thousands of protesters against the communist government took to the streets in Cuba.


Especially in the village of San Antonio de los Baños, southwest of the capital Havana, numerous people protested on Sunday against the economy of shortages and oppression, as could be seen on videos published on social networks. There were also demonstrations in Havana and the cities of Holguín, Matanzas, Camagüey, and Santiago de Cuba.

They are protesting the crisis that there is no food or medicine, that everything has to be bought in foreign exchange stores, and the list goes on and on, said an eyewitness in Santiago de Cuba. Videos showed hundreds of Cubans chanting anti-government slogans and making various demands - from vaccines against the coronavirus to an end to daily blackouts. Security forces vehicles armed with machine guns drove through the streets.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel went to San Antonio de los Baños himself and addressed his compatriots on state television. We will not give up the sovereignty and independence of this nation," said the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. If you want to defeat the revolution, you have to go over our corpses, he added.


Troubled Communist Leader Blames the US For Protests

According to government opponents, security forces took action against the demonstrators."We call on all revolutionaries to take to the streets and defend the revolution in all places, stated Mr. Díaz-Canel.

The communist President Miguel Díaz-Canel blames the United States for the unrest: The protests are orchestrated by the United States via social media platforms and by "mercenaries" in Cuba. He warned that further provocations would not be tolerated.

Videos showed hundreds of Cubans chanting anti-government slogans and making various demands - from vaccines against the coronavirus to an end to daily blackouts. Security forces vehicles armed with machine guns drove through the streets.

Massive protests against the socialist government are rare in authoritarian Cuba. It was only in April that President Miguel Díaz-Canel took over the leadership of the Communist Party from Raúl Castro. For the first time since the revolution of 1959, the socialist Caribbean island is no longer ruled by a Castro.