Cuban civilians are taking to the streets and calling for President to step down.
The Backdrop
Cuba has been an authoritarian communist state for almost 60 years. With a population of 11 million people, most of whom are Christians and primarily speak Spanish, this nation has a GDP of $100 billion, as per Council on Foreign Relations.
Besides the pandemic, this country has been on the receiving end of economic sanctions under the Trump administration, which has led to the country’s economy shrinking by 11% in 2020. This further snowballed into severe shortages of basic goods like rice, one of the worst performances in three decades.
The Far Cry Moments
Being a gamer, I could NOT resist giving this heading! Continuing, thousands of people took to the streets from Havana to Santiago on Sunday, the 11th of July. These protests are primarily fuelled by the frustration of mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic by the Government, poor performance of the economy since the previous year and a lack of basic necessities such as medicines.
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The crowd was divided into protestors and supporters shouting “Diaz-Canel step down” and “Fidel” respectively, of which the protest slogans won because of the sheer intensity of the cry, drowning the supporters’ chants.
The protests broke out in an Antonio de Los Banos municipality in Artemisa Province, bordering Havana, from where it spread like wildfire on social media, demanding coronavirus vaccines, an end to daily blackouts and bare necessities such as medicines.
With no formal body organising the protest, everyone got their source of inspiration from the social media outrage until the internet was cut off. Internet or not, this protest, in my opinion, was long due.
What Heads Said
Cuban President, Miguel Diaz-Canel, blamed the United States for the protests because of economic asphyxiation and social media campaigns by the “Cuban-American mafia”. He went on to indirectly blame Mia Khalifa for the protests (yes, it is true).
President Biden called onto the “regime” to hear the voices of the people demanding an end to “repression” and poverty.
Below are some pictures of the protests that went viral:
Cuba had it coming for a long time, for there was really no proper stability in the country, but a series of misfortune leaders who thought they were the best.
Image Sources: Google Images
Sources: Indian Express, BBC, Reuters
Find the blogger: Shouvonik Bose
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