We are not afraid: the biggest Cuban protests in 30 years
The 2021 Cuban protests are the biggest demonstrations the island has witnessed in 30 years. The protests against the Communist government of Miguel Díaz-Canel started on July 11 in the towns of San Antonio de Los Baños and Palma Soriano and spread rapidly across the globe. Despite the arrests and assaults, the protestors continued to gather in masses for several days on end, chanting lines of liberty and freedom. In just a couple of days, thousands took on the streets to speak up their minds.
“We’re here because we’re hungry and poor. We don’t have food. We don’t have anything.” (Yusniel Pérez, age 17, at the protests in Havana for the Guardian)
Some background
Cuba, officially known as the Republic of Cuba, with the capital at Havana, has a long history of communism. In 1976, the Communist Party of Cuba, Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC), became the only active party in the country, and, under the revised constitution of 1992, it was described as the “organized vanguard of the Cuban nation”.
In the mid-1950s, the Cuban Revolution sparked against the dictatorial leadership of Fulgencio Batista (1901—1973)‚ who was removed from office and replaced by Fidel Castro (1926—2016), a communist revolutionary rebel.
Fidel created PCC in 1965. He dominated the Cubanese political sphere alongside his brother for several decades. The leading institution of the party is the Politburo, which sets the state policy and is comprised of 25 members elected from the Central Committee by the party congress. In 1997, Fidel Castro designated his brother, Raúl Castro, who was also a leader of the Cuban Revolution, as his successor. Miguel Díaz-Canel, the new First Secretary of the Communist Party, has been in power since 2018.
US sanctions and embargo on Cuba
Enacted in 1958, during Batista’s government and in the wake of the Cuban Revolution, the USA’s sanctions program on Cuba is one oldest the country has adopted. Although put simply, the sanctions state that all transactions between American businesses or businesses with commercial activities in the US and Cuba are prohibited, there are several limited exceptions to the general rule that permit the trade of food and humanitarian supplies. According to the US Department of State, the embargo came as a response to the activities conducted by the Cuban government.
Since 1992, the United Nations General Assembly has passed a resolution every year requesting the US to end its sanctions on Cuba because they are ineffective and dangerous to the wellbeing of the Cuban population, leading to an increased risk of medical crises due to the lack of food, clean water, medicine, etc. In a report from 2015 conducted by the news publication Al Jazeera, it was estimated that the embargo had cost the Cuban government since its implementation $1.1 trillion. Despite this, the US holds its strong position on maintaining the sanctions on the communist country “so long as it continues to refuse to move toward democratization and greater respect for human rights” (sec. 1703. statement of policy, Cuban Democracy Act of 1992).
Even though the Obama administration was in favor of lifting some of the sanctions previously imposed on the country, the Trump administration reversed this step with more than 200 additional restrictions that have been left untouched by the new Biden administration.
What lead to the protests
The coronavirus pandemic brought the biggest economic crisis upon the Cubans in 30 years, the government failing to bring the necessary economic reforms it promised.
Tourism, one of the island’s main industries and sources of revenue, has been badly affected by the traveling restrictions. As a consequence, food, medicine, and other necessities have disappeared from the stores’ shelves. Many have to wait in line to buy basic goods. However, some scholars argue that precisely the investments in tourism facilities determined the shortages and high prices.
Furthermore, Cuba refused to receive vaccines through the COVAX program or buy foreign ones; hence decided to develop its own vaccine, Soberana 02. Ultimately, this delayed the vaccination process and COVID-19 cases and deaths surged dramatically.
News publications claim that the dissatisfaction of the Cubans protesting in the streets is caused by the authoritarian government, sometimes referred to under the term “dictatorship”, which enacts the intelligence, police, and security apparatus to control the people and diminish their civil liberties.
About the protests
The first demonstrations started in the towns of San Antonio de Los Baños and Palma Soriano on the 11th of July, 2021. Inventively, the protestors sang the song "Patria y Vida" ("Homeland and Life"), which is an inversion of the Cuban Revolution motto “Patria o Muerte” ("Homeland or Death"). Moreover, over the Internet, appeared videos of people asking for more vaccines and chanting slogans of "Freedom", "Down with communism", and "We are not afraid". Soon, the protests spread across the island with the help of social media platforms.
In a television broadcast, Díaz-Canel urged the pro-government supporters to go out into the streets as well to assist the Cuban authorities against the demonstrators in the form of a counter-protest.
Starting July 12, despite some private networks that managed to bypass the official governmental authorities, Netblocks reported that social media platforms in Cuba were censored. Many women gathered at police stations to ask about the whereabouts of their relatives that were arrested or disappeared a day prior.
On July 13, protestors in Miami, Florida, blocked the Palmetto Expressway, a state road, to show their support to the Cubans and their cause.
A day later, the Cuban Chamber of Commerce lifted the customs restrictions on imports of hygiene products, medicine, and food until the 31st of December, 2021. Moreover, the government announced that it will better facilitate the electricity system and state-owned businesses will be able to decide their employees' wages. The creation of small and medium-sized private businesses will also be permitted.
On the 17th of July, the turnout at the demonstration organized by the government was around 100,000 people.
During the demonstrations, several foreign journalists and press employees have been assaulted and injured by protestors or the police. Some have even been arrested.
While Human Rights Watch estimates that 400 protestors were arrested, the exiled rights group Cubalex is inclined to tip this number to more than 500 arrests. Unfortunately, one of the protestors, Diubis Laurencio Tejeda, age 36, died in a dispute between the protestors and the police. Other sources claim there have been up to five deaths.
The goals of the protests were to end the one-party rule of the Communist government, the resignation of Díaz-Canel, and to receive humanitarian aid and military intervention from the US, requested by Cuban exiles and dissidents.
The response of the Cuban government
The Cuban government blames the US for orchestrating the demonstrations. After an official meeting of the PCC, Raúl Castro stated that:
"the provocations orchestrated by counterrevolutionary elements, organized and financed from the United States with destabilizing purposes, were analyzed."
Here is a video from Al Jazeera showing footage of Díaz-Canel and the Cuban protests:
Rights activists admit that a series of trials and sentences will follow soon as a consequence of the protests. Already, trials have started against those who were charged with instigating unrest, committing vandalism, propagating the coronavirus pandemic, or assault. Notwithstanding that some have been released to house arrest, those charged could spend up to 20 years in prison if considered guilty. According to the Humans Rights Watch, many of the detainees have been beaten by the police forces.
International reactions and US involvement
Apart from the protests in Miami, Florida, demonstrations in support of the Cuban cause also took place in other parts of the world such as Santiago, Chile, or Madrid, Spain.
Even more so, several world governments and international organizations have released statements on the subject. European Union's Foreign Relations Chief Josep Borrell said that "the Cuban people have a right to express their opinion".
“We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba’s authoritarian regime. The Cuban people are bravely asserting fundamental and universal rights. Those rights, including the right of peaceful protest and the right to freely determine their own future, must be respected. The United States calls on the Cuban regime to hear their people and serve their needs at this vital moment rather than enriching themselves.” (statement given by Joe Biden, the President of the US, July 12, 2021, www.whitehouse.gov)
The Biden administration further sanctioned the Cuban government, according to them, to show its support towards the protestors. The new restrictions prohibit payments from Cuban entities to the US and certain payments from the US to Cuba. Biden reassured the international community that more sanctions will follow.
Several Western press outlets published misleading pictures of pro-government protests captioned as an anti-government one (e.g. The New York Times, The Washington Times, Financial Times, etc.)
Without a doubt, the Cuban protests of 2021 had a major impact on the country’s government. There are many lessons to take from the discussed events of July 2021, on misinformation, governmental control, and the lack of responsiveness and effective solutions from the international community. When asked to help, the US returned to its comfort zone —sanctions—without producing much change. Hopefully, in the future, we will be better equipped to handle similar situations and aid those in need on time.
Editor's note: This article was written on July 22, 2021.
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