There are
"enough revolutionaries in Cuba to face any kind of demonstration,"
President Miguel Diaz-Canel warned on Sunday, facing a challenge from opposition groups to organize a march on November 15 that the government has already banned.
"There are enough revolutionaries to face any kind of demonstration that seeks to destroy the revolution, with respect and defense of the constitution, but also with energy and courage,"
said the leader and first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, closing a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of 114 members.
"Let the imperialists know that they are going to have to fight with a people who are not fooled, a people numerous enough, courageous and heroic enough to fight, who are not afraid of threats,"
Diaz-Canel added. .
His predecessor Raul Castro, who since his retirement in April has occasionally appeared in public, attended the meeting.
The dissident political think tank Archipiélago, which called for a November 15 march in Havana and seven provinces of the island, is upholding its call, although authorities banned the protest last week and warned organizers of the criminal consequences if they maintain their initiative.
This call comes after the unprecedented protests that erupted on July 11 and 12 in nearly 50 cities across the country with cries of
"Freedom"
and
"We are hungry
", which left one dead, dozens injured and arrest. of more than 1000 people, of whom more than 560 are still in prison.
Economic crisis
The November demonstration aims to achieve
"change"
and the release of political prisoners, according to the organizers.
The Cuban government sees the protests as part of a Washington-backed strategy to change the regime.
US officials have repeatedly criticized Havana for banning the November 15 march and for those arrested following the July protests.
Cuba is going through a deep economic crisis with severe shortages of food and medicine, exacerbated by a drop in tourism due to covid-19 and the strengthening of sanctions imposed by Donald Trump during his tenure, which his successor Joe Biden has maintained.
