Latin America has reacted unevenly to the largest protests in Cuba since the 1990s. On Sunday, shortly after images of police repression against protesters demanding food and greater freedoms were released, regional organizations such as the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) raised their voices in favor of the the right of Cubans to take to the streets to protest. The following day, the main governments of the region also expressed their concern about the events on the island. For some, like the Mexican Executive headed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the solution is to reach out to the Cuban people; others, like Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro,link the situation in Cuba with that of Venezuela.
“We recognize the legitimate claim of Cuban society for medicines, food and fundamental freedoms. We condemn the Cuban dictatorial regime for calling on civilians to repress and to confront those who exercise their rights to protest, ”wrote OAS Secretary Luis Almagro on Twitter Sunday night, in the face of the revolt that is taking place in the streets of Cuba. by the deterioration of the economy and the shortage of essential products.
For its part, the IACHR demands that the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, respect the right of Cubans to demonstrate and avoid attacks such as those carried out on Sunday. The IACHR “received reports on the use of force, arrests, attacks on protesters and journalists, as well as cuts to the Internet signal; as well as stigmatizing reactions by high authorities against people who demonstrate, ”the inter-American body has denounced.
Mexico's response will be to offer help. "They sent us doctors when we needed them, hundreds of doctors who saved lives," said Andrés Manuel López Obrador, referring to the Covid-19 crisis. "Love pays with love," he added. And he has been opposed to commenting on the position of the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, in the face of the revolts that demand "freedom" and call for the end of the dictatorship.
López Obrador has criticized the "interference" of some organizations that he says paid for by the United States and has taken the "side of the Cuban people." The United States, on the other hand, has clearly positioned itself in favor of the protesters and has demanded that Díaz-Canel listen to the complaints. "We support the Cuban people and their clamor for freedom and relief from the tragic control of the pandemic and the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by the authoritarian regime of Cuba," said US President Joe Biden. , in a statement released by the White House.
Bolsonaro has taken advantage of the open crisis on the Caribbean island to compare it with the situation in Venezuela and warn about communism. “The people went to ask for four things: food (...) electricity —because the oil that was coming from Venezuela is falling a lot and their source of energy is that which comes from fossil fuels— (...) the internet —which it does not exist—, and freedom, and they received rubber bullets, beatings and imprisonment, ”said the Brazilian president on Monday in his greeting to supporters who were waiting for him to leave at the Palacio da Alvorada, the presidential residence.
In Colombia, the reactions have so far been rather contained. “In Cuba, as in Colombia, social dialogue is imposed. Living societies are the ones that move and achieve transformations based on their dialogue and not on their self-destruction, ”Gustavo Petro, the left-wing candidate who is currently the favorite in the polls, has stated on his social networks. presidential elections of 2022. The Andean country comes from dealing with its own social outbreak, a wave of all kinds of marches, protests and riots against the government of Iván Duque, which has resulted in dozens of deaths and multiple reproaches from the international community to the performance of the security forces.
“My solidarity with Cuba in the face of the aggressions promoted by the United States and its criminal blockade. I join those who defend the sovereignty of the Cuban people, their revolution and their political project, ”said Rodrigo Londoño, Timochenko, president of Comunes, the political party that emerged from the peace agreement with the extinct FARC guerrilla. "Concern for the well-being of the Cuban people must translate into demanding the lifting of the criminal blockade," said the party of ex-combatants. The peace negotiations took place in Havana, and Cuba is the guarantor of the historic pact sealed at the end of 2016. However, diplomatic tensions between Bogotá and Havana have been the rule during the three years of the Duque Executive, a critic of the agreements, who at the moment has not spoken about the protests on the island.
The deterioration in relations between Cuba and Colombia dates back to the breakdown of dialogue with another Colombian guerrilla, the ELN, after the car bomb attack against a cadet school in Bogotá that caused 22 deaths in January 2019. Cuba was home to the rapprochement with the ELN, and it has refused to extradite the guerrilla's negotiating leadership, protected by the protocols of rupture, in a gesture that has irritated the Duque government.
Colombia's diplomatic campaign motivated, at least partially, the designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism by the United States in the last days of the Donald Trump Administration.
Official silence
Like the Colombian president, his counterparts from Chile, Sebastián Piñera, nor from Argentina, Alberto Fernández, have not spoken about Cuba so far. From the Argentine Foreign Ministry, they have limited themselves to informing that they are "carefully following the evolution of the events." The official silence includes the vice president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who has a close relationship with Havana. Contact between the authorities of both countries intensified in recent months as a result of the vaccination campaign against covid-19. The Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti and the presidential adviser Cecilia Nicolini traveled to Cuba in May to study the purchase of the Cuban vaccines Soberana and Abdala, which has not yet materialized.
Despite the official silence, a group of Cubans demonstrated on Sunday afternoon in Buenos Aires, in front of the embassy of their native country, to join the protests and denounce the repression of their compatriots.
From Chile, the main show of solidarity with Havana has come from the Communist Party.
“We repudiate the intensification of the blockade and actions of US interference and aggressions against Cuba.
We demand an end to the blockade.
Our solidarity with the government and the Cuban people ”, indicated the Chilean PC through Twitter.
In Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro has been silent, but opposition leader Juan Guaidó has not.
“The desire for change, freedom and the demand for fundamental rights are unstoppable forces.
From Venezuela, we reiterate our support for the entire pro-democracy movement in Cuba.
We are united by the fight to see ourselves as free and democratic, "he wrote on social networks, where he said goodbye with" Homeland and life! ", In reference to the song heard in the street protests in Cuba.
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