On July 11, 2021, a massive demonstration broke out in Cuba. The COVID pandemic, which exacerbated the nation’s hunger and poverty, pushed Cuba to the edge of civil war.
Demonstrators used the internet—which has only been legally available in the country Since 2018—To coordinate actions in small and large cities throughout the island.
“Freedom…I felt free. “I have never known anything so amazing and beautiful in my whole life. It was necessary to experience it yourself to fully appreciate,” said a Cuban citizen. He requested anonymity to avoid retribution by the Cuban government. Reason.
The Cuban government shut down the internet after hundreds of people were arrested in protest.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel appeared on state TV to call for the violent suppression of the protests against “counter-revolutionaries.”
Miami’s large Cuban American community had planned to take their boats to Cuba with them, but they were prevented by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Instead, they started fireworks off of the coasts of Cuba.
“I believe that what most people don’t realize is that Cuba’s problem stems from people being unable to do everything for themselves.”,” Martha Bueno is a Cuban American activist.Only the government allows you to make any money. If you try to feed your family yourself, they will throw you in prison.
Following the protests Bueno created the People 4 Cuba organization. To smuggle the supplies onto the island, they make packages with dry foods and other medical supplies. They then charge $35 per pound. She says they’ve already shipped 800 pounds. However, it’s been more challenging in recent months because the Cuban government has made tougher on medical supplies smuggled into Cuba.
“The big reason that we have to smuggle it into Cuba is because if I send it legitimately… the Cuban government will take that and then sell it in the stores,” says Bueno. Bueno says, “I wanted everyone to get it. People who need it to have it. Also, I won’t support the Cuban government. I will not fundraise, pay for it and give it to them to sell in their stores. That’s not how I roll.
She is one of the most beloved. tweetsBueno was a outspoken libertarian who wrote the following: My Father, aged 21, was sentenced for trying to flee his home country of Cuba. He was given 6 years. After one year, his sentence was overturned by my mother fearlessly. Although you may want safety and freedom in return, I wouldn’t.
Bueno’s friend Daniel Lugo came from Cuba to help with logistics and shipping 22 years back. He believes that, although the communist dictatorship in Cuba has been overthrown for the past 63 years and that it is still unshakeable today because of the independence and courage displayed by Cuba’s young people.
“TLugo says that there is now a “new generation” of Cubans, or young Cubans, who are not brainwashed. He refers to many young Cubans and activists who took to social media to voice their disapproval for the government. So that is our hope, and we wish to help.
However, the Cuban citizen spoke out anonymously to fear retribution. The Cuban government leader, President Miguel Diaz Canel, says the regime can still control the situation and quash protests. This includes cutting off internet and electricity, withholding supplies and arresting or deporting dissidents.
She said, “Everyone’s living in desperate circumstances.” “The parents who have children that have been unfairly taken prisoner…Nobody wants to go to jail…Everyone wants change. This is a hard step.
Sebastian Arcos, associate director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University, calls the July 11 protest “by far the most important, largest…most widespread and…openly political” protests in communist Cuba. His father was an activist in politics ImprisonedCastro and whoLater, after receiving no treatment from the government’s politicized healthcare system, I succumbed to cancer.
As evidence of the erosion in power caused by the internet, he points out the July protests. The internet allowed July protests spread further than ever under communist rule, which he claims is gradually but surely falling apart.
Arcos states, “Since then the Soviet Union collapsed, the regime had been slowly decaying.”
According to him, the three pillars which supported it are falling apart: Idealism, charismatic leaders, and the ability to mobilise large crowds.
Arcos states, “Right at this moment, no one believes that the Marxist ideology is in Cuba. Even the people within the regime.” It is what they claim to believe. But they drive BMWs…They are practicing capitalism while they preach socialism or communism to the rest of the population. They believe in nothing. [Marxism].”
As evidence of the collapse of the second pillar, he points out Castro’s death and the absence of large numbers of protesters. But he says that the process of reform in totalitarian communist states often involves cycles of opposition and repression.
“The regime is now engaged in pure naked repression…what they’re trying to do is trying to rebuild the terror, the state terror that Fidel Castro successfully built in the early 60s,” says Arcos.
Cuba’s government attributes its dire economic situation to the U.S. trade embargo. Bueno claims that this is an attempt at making the United States a scapegoat.
“IThese problems are not caused by the embargo. These problems are caused by the Cuban government. Bueno states that Cuba is an isolated island but people can’t fish.”
Our Cuban lady spoke out saying that while many know it is the Cuban government that they have gone hungry, some people don’t want to admit it.
“People fear you will make them state security. And they say: “Talking about this should not be a topic of conversation.‘ So, in other words there’s a lot of fear about repression that’s there …“They are afraid of the truth so they won’t speak up,” she said.
Cuban authorities appear to have taken back control following a November protest. Arcos says that it is impossible for the status quo to be maintained.
“Arcos says that every time they detain a 16-year old and send them to prison for 25 years, they create entire families and communities of opposition.” Arcos says, “They feed the opposition by increasing the degree of repression.”
Zach Weissmueller produced this video.
Credits: Al Diaz/TNS/Newscom; Yander Zamora/EFE/Newscom; Michele Eve Sandberg / SplashNews/Newscom; Elvis Gonzalez/EFE/Newscom; INSTARimages/Cover Images/Newscom; Ismael Francisco/AP; imageBROKER/Egon B�msch/Newscom; Ernesto Mastrascusa/EFE/Newscom; Cristian Mijea/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Circa Images/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Ardavan Roozbeh/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; YAMIL LAGE/TNS/Newscom; CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA/Newscom; José Méndez/EFE/Newscom