A massive and unprecedented protest against the government in a Cuban town spread to other cities

07/11/2021 3:49 PM

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 07/11/2021 5:36 PM

Thousands of Cubans marched

this Sunday through the streets of the small town of San Antonio de los Baños, southwest of Havana, in an unprecedented protest against the government of Cuba, according to videos of fans posted on the internet.

What began in San Antonio de los Baños spread to Havana.

A group of 50 young people

demonstrated this Sunday in front of the headquarters of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) on the central 23rd avenue shouting "down with the dictatorship", "Long live Cuba Libre" and "we want to be heard."

At the doors of the building, the protesters faced without reaching violence, with ICRT workers carrying Cuban flags and shouting slogans such as "Viva Fidel" and "Cuba yes, Yankees no."

This protest has occurred in parallel to others in different locations in the Caribbean country such as Palma Soriano (Santiago de Cuba, east) and Guira de Melena and Alquízar,

both in the province of Artemisa,

and is the largest registered since the so-called "maleconazo "from 1994.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel in San Antonio de los Baños.

AFP photo

Shouting especially

"Homeland and Life"

, the title of a controversial song, but also

"Down with the dictatorship!"

and "We are not afraid,"

the protesters, most of them young, marched through the town, located 33 km southwest of the capital, according to the images.

"Oh, my God! A woman is heard saying at a time when the march passes in front of her, shouting out loud

" We want Freedom "

and calling out insults to President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

San Antonio de los Baños is a small rural town in the province of Artemisa, neighboring Havana.

It has about 50,000 inhabitants.

Since the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020, Cubans have been forced to stand in long lines to stock up on food, a situation that has been compounded by a severe shortage of medicines, which has generated widespread social unrest.

Two people talk on the wall of the Havana seawall today, in Havana (Cuba).

Photo EFE

Government

Faced with the unusual public protest in San Antonio,

the Cuban president

, Miguel Díaz-Canel,

appeared at the scene

, who in a response ceremony held in a square in that town with a group of supporters launched a proclamation in which he blamed the shortage of supplies. of food and medicine to the embargo of the United States against the island.

In the Caribbean country's social networks, videos of other places have circulated in the last hours, such as the eastern town of Palma Soriano, where hundreds of people have also mobilized in the streets and slogans such as

"no more lies", "unity "and" we want help

.

"

This is the largest anti-government protest

on the island since the so-called "maleconazo", when in August 1994, in the middle of the "special period", hundreds of people took to the streets of Havana and did not leave until it arrived. the then Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

The protest occurs on a day in which Cuba registered

another record number of COVID-19 infections in 24 hours

, with 6,923, for a total of 238,491, and deaths, with 47 (1,537).

"These are alarming figures, which are increasing every day,"

said Francisco Durán, the head of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Health, in his usual television press conference on Sunday.

The situation is

especially tense in the tourist province of Matanzas,

located 100 km east of Havana, where the high number of infections can cause health services to collapse.

Under the labels #SOSCuba ", #SOSMatanzas" or #SalvemosCuba ", among others,

calls for help

are multiplying on social networks

, but also claims to the government to facilitate the sending of donations from abroad.

"Mundo Cuba needs your help!"

The famous duo Gente de Zona, made up of reggaeton players Randy Malcom and Alexander Delgado, claimed on Twitter.

The call of "SOS Cuba" by Gente de Zona

was shared

on that social network by other renowned artists of the region such as Daddy Yankee, Becky G, Natti Natasha, and the singer René Pérez (Resident of Calle 13), among others.

On Saturday, an opposition group called for the

establishment of "a humanitarian corridor," an

initiative that the government ruled out.

"The concepts linked to humanitarian corridor and humanitarian aid are associated with conflict zones and

do not apply to Cuba,

" Ernesto Soberón, director of Consular Affairs and Attention to Cubans Residing Abroad, said at a press conference. .

Soberón also

denounced "a campaign"

that seeks to "present an image of total chaos in the country that does not correspond to the current situation."

However, the official announced that the government will set up an email account on Monday

to expedite donations from abroad.

Source: AFP and EFE

PB

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