Dina Stars: Internet, key ally of protests in Cuba 2:02
(CNN) -
The Cuban government organized a massive demonstration in Havana on Saturday that was heralded as a “revolutionary reaffirmation,” following historic protests earlier in the week that called for change in Cuba.
With Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and former Cuban leader Raúl Castro leading the crowd, the gathering of what the government said were tens of thousands of people is the largest the Cuban government has ever brought together during the pandemic.
HRW denounces that more than 400 people have been arrested in Cuba since the protests, including 7 journalists
Cuban officials organized the rally after US President Joe Biden called the communist island a "failed state" on Thursday.
Repression in Cuba could promote exodus 3:59
Shouts of "Down with the Yankees!"
From a point across the street from the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Díaz-Canel said his government's harsh crackdown on protesters had been misrepresented.
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Credit: YAMIL LAGE / AFP via Getty Images
"Right now, what the world is seeing from Cuba is a lie, the people oppose the government and a government that represses its people," he said.
"It is not strange that some people have doubts under this media bombardment, and they are caused by a supposed separation that does not exist."
They protest before the UN in New York against dictatorship in Cuba 2:18
Despite Diaz-Canel's claims, social media was full of videos of Cuban police and supporters forcibly arresting protesters.
The Cuban government, which brought many of its supporters by bus, said that the massive demonstration complied with "sanitary measures", while the island registers the highest number of cases and deaths from covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.