Thousands of people in cities across Cuba yesterday protested against the country’s leadership (NYT) and food and medicine shortages in what appear to be the country’s largest anti-government protests in nearly thirty years.
Protesters called for political freedom (CNN) and for President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez to step down. Diaz-Canel responded in a televised address in which he blamed U.S. sanctions for economic woes, offered no concessions, and called on Cubans who support the government to confront protesters in the streets. The director of Human Rights Watch said the group received reports of at least twenty arrests (WaPo) during the demonstrations. Under President Donald Trump, the United States imposed some of its toughest economic measures against Cuba in decades, and the Joe Biden administration has not lifted them. Cuba is experiencing its worst economic contraction in over thirty years, and currency reform caused inflation to surge (Miami Herald) in recent months.
