Police are out in force tonight in Havana,
Cuba, after thousands of protesters rose up Sunday, taking to the
streets across the country in the largest demonstrations against
communist rule in a generation. Nick Schifrin begins our coverage, and
talks to Lillian Guerra, a professor of Cuban history at the University
of Florida, about the country's political developments.
Read the
Full Transcript
Judy Woodruff:
In Cuba, police are out in force
tonight in the capital, Havana, after thousands of protesters rose up Sunday.
They took to the streets across the
country, in the largest demonstrations against communist rule in a generation.
Nick Schifrin begins our coverage.
Nick Schifrin:
On the streets of Havana, thousands
of Cubans walked to the center of the capital to demand their freedom.
Geovanis Gonzales (through
translator):
We are here because of the
repression against the people. They are starving us to death. We have no house.
We have nothing. But they have money to build hotels.
Pedro Del Cueto (through
translator):
Homeland and life. Down with the
dictatorship. Down with the Castros. Down with the communist dogs.
Nick Schifrin:
They filmed on their phones and
spread the call to demonstrate via Internet they have only recently been able
to access, first San Antonio de los Banos, south of Havana, and then to
hundreds of cities throughout the country.
It wasn't all peaceful. Ninety
miles east of Havana, protesters overturned a cop car. In response, police
arrested dozens, and plainclothes officers administered the state's justice.
Michel Rodriguez (through
translator):
State security beat me and my
daughter. They beat us because we were walking down the street.
Nick Schifrin:
The nationwide release of anger
from protesters willing to personally yell at Cuba's president, the product of
acute shortages of COVID vaccines and other medicines, despite a COVID
outbreak, and more Cubans getting sick, anger over inflation that could hit 500
percent this year.
And because of Trump administration
sanctions, Cubans no longer have access to remittances that were once their
second largest source of income. But it's also the product of longstanding
outrage over an economy that for years failed to lift up working-class Cubans.
Yesterday, Cuban President Miguel
Diaz-Canel accused demonstrators of being U.S. sellouts. Today, he blamed the
70-year-old U.S. trade embargo.
Miguel Diaz-Canel (through
translator):
Lift the blockade, and we will see
what our people are capable of.
Nick Schifrin:
But in the White House today, President
Biden took the protesters' side.
President Joseph Biden:
The Cuban people are demanding
their freedom from an authoritarian regime. The United States stands firmly
with the people of Cuba as they assert their universal rights.
And we call on the government, the
government of Cuba, to refrain from violence.
Nick Schifrin:
It's been 27 years since Cubans
protested en masse. But those demonstrations were only in Havana. Yesterday's
protests were across the country, spontaneous, and leaderless.
And to talk about the significance
of these protests, we turn to Lillian Guerra, professor of Cuban history at the
University of Florida.
Lillian Guerra, welcome to the
"NewsHour."
So, how historic were yesterday's
demonstrations?
Lillian Guerra:
Well, they were really
unprecedented.
We have not seen anything like this
in 60 years or more in Cuba. They are not just extraordinary in their
magnitude, but they are also geographically vast in terms of the numbers of
cities and places where they have taken place.
And the quality of people's
denunciation, the diversity of voices, but also that people are openly calling
this a dictatorship, and today even calling for the end of communism openly in
Holguin, which is far eastern Cuba, this is all really uncharted waters.
Nick Schifrin:
We reported some of Cubans' most
recent concerns over COVID, over medical shortages, inflation, but also
long-term economic hopelessness.
What do you think lead to
yesterday's demonstrations?
Lillian Guerra:
I think this is a culmination of
three decades of the Cuban government making reforms that really have most
served its own stabilization and consolidation of control over the capitalist
sector of the economy that was created by the Communist Party in 1991, really
because of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the need to do something to
maintain power.
So what we have is a lot of anger.
We have now multigenerational disappointment with the lack of change. And, most
recently, we have a lot of hypocrisy on the part of the Cuban state that claims
it is so humanitarian and so interested in its people's welfare, but really has
not even been able to supply people with Tylenol and basic food, and also will
not admit — and that is the real — the key here, that the new leadership and
the old leadership have held hands.
And they will not admit that
anything is wrong with their model or their one-party rule.
Nick Schifrin:
And, in fact, today, we have seen
the Cuban government blamed United States for these protests, also shut off
some access to the Internet.
Do you believe the government is
willing to make some of the changes that are required to respond to those
longer — more medium- and long-term concerns expressed by the population?
Lillian Guerra:
I think that they are very
unwilling.
In April, the Cuban Communist Party
held its latest Congress. They said at the Congress that they were committed to
the idea that social media and the Internet and all the means by which Cubans
are expressing them are an affront to the nation, that they are anti-Cuban and
that they are a source of subversion.
So, that was several months ago,
yes, but, so far, the tune has not changed. And the story line has pretty much
gotten narrower, as Miguel Diaz-Canel has gone on television accusing those
protesting of being vulgar criminals, of being mercenaries.
And none of that is believable. The
people who are protesting are your neighbors, the people you know. There are
people of all backgrounds. And the diversity of that community of Cubans in
every place that they are protesting makes it really difficult for this to be
discredited according to the traditional means.
Nick Schifrin:
Candidate Biden promised to lift
some of the Trump administration actions on Cuba. The Biden administration is
close to finalizing its Cuba policy.
Let me play you a clip from an
interview I did earlier today with Mike Gonzalez. He's a Heritage Foundation
senior fellow who says, after these protests, the Biden administration should
not open up to the Cuba.
Mike Gonzalez:
I think this is now off the table,
because it will be widely seen and it will be a lifeline to a thuggish,
murderous totalitarian regime that has been rejected by its own people.
So I don't see how Biden can send
back an ambassador or lift punitive measures that Trump imposed.
Nick Schifrin:
Lillian Guerra, what do you think
the Biden administration should do following yesterday's protests?
Lillian Guerra:
I really think that they should do
the opposite of what this gentleman just suggested.
If he were to take a position of
loosening the embargo or doing the kinds of things that Obama did that really
poked holes into it, that would really call the Cuban state's bluff. I mean,
all I can say is that everything that is going wrong in Cuba is the result of
the United States and the United States' blockade, as they call it, the
embargo, when Cubans on the ground know that it's really what they say is the
internal blockade.
I mean, that phrase has been used
now for more than 30 years to describe the kinds of controls that the Communist
Party exercises. And so I think we need to stop being the aggressor. We need to
stop taking on the scripted role that has been our role since 1960, at least
1961. It's time to be a radical friend of the Cuban people, even as we maintain
our criticisms and perhaps some of our sanctions certainly against the
Revolutionary Armed Forces.
Nick Schifrin is the
foreign affairs and defense correspondent for PBS NewsHour, based in
Washington, D.C. He leads NewsHour's foreign reporting and has created
week-long, in-depth series for NewsHour from China, Russia, Ukraine,
Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Cuba, Mexico, and the Baltics. The PBS NewsHour
series "Inside Putin's Russia" won a 2018 Peabody Award and the National
Press Club's Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence. In
November 2020, Schifrin received the American Academy of Diplomacy’s
Arthur Ross Media Award for Distinguished Reporting and Analysis of
Foreign Affairs.
Thousands took to the streets in protest over the government's handling of coronavirus and the economy
Thousands of Cubans have risked jail by joining the biggest protests for decades against the island's Communist government.
"There
is no food, no medicine, there is no freedom. They do not let us live,"
one of Sunday's protesters named only as Alejandro told BBC Mundo.
The protests are significant, because government critics face harsh punishments for dissent in Cuba.
The island's president called for his supporters to "fight" the protesters.
Cuba is in the midst of an economic crisis and has been hit hard by US sanctions and Covid.
Cubans
have been angered by the collapse of the economy, food and medicine
shortages, price hikes and the government's handling of the pandemic.
Protesters shouted "freedom" and "down with the dictatorship" in demonstrations across Cuba, including the capital Havana.
"We are not afraid. We want change, we do not want any more dictatorship," an unnamed protester in San Antonio told the BBC.
Dozens
of anti-government protesters were arrested by security forces who were
assisted by plain clothes officers, Reuters news agency reports. Images
on social media showed what appeared to be security forces detaining,
beating and pepper-spraying some of the protesters.
There
were reports of internet blackouts across the island and a photographer
with Associated Press was injured after a confrontation with security
forces.
Getty Images
image caption Ramón Espinosa, a photographer with AP news agency was injured while covering the protests
In
response to the rare unrest, President Miguel Díaz-Canel addressed the
nation in a TV broadcast and blamed the US for the turmoil. He called
its tight sanctions on Cuba - which have been in place in various forms
since 1962 - a "policy of economic suffocation".
Mr
Díaz-Canel said the protesters were mercenaries hired by the US to
destabilise the country, and called for his supporters to go out and
defend the revolution - referring to the 1959 uprising which ushered in
Communist rule.
"The order to fight has been given - into the street, revolutionaries!" he announced.
The top US diplomat for Latin America, Julie Chung, tweeted: "We are deeply concerned by 'calls to combat' in Cuba."
The
US - which has a decades-old history of hostilities with Cuba - has
said it stands with Cubans, and called on those in government to refrain
from violence and listen to its people.
"The Cuban people are bravely asserting fundamental and universal rights," US President Joe Biden said in a statement.
'There is no freedom'
The
anti-government protests began with a demonstration in the city of San
Antonio de los Baños, south-west of Havana, but soon spread throughout
the country.
Many
were broadcast live on social networks, which showed marchers shouting
slogans against the government and the president, and calling for
change.
Posts
on social media showed people overturning police cars and looting some
state-owned shops which price their goods in foreign currencies. For
many Cubans, these shops are the only way they can buy basic necessities
but prices are high.
Getty Images
Some protesters targeted police vehicles and state-owned shops
Analysis - protests show growing anger
By Vanessa Buschschluter, Latin America and Caribbean editor, BBC News Online
While
the crowds of protesters do not look particularly large, the
significance of thousands of Cubans taking to the streets across the
country can hardly be overstated.
Shouting
"Freedom!" and "Down with Communism!" may be considered tame in other
parts of the world, but doing so on the tightly controlled Communist-run
island can easily land you in jail.
The
fact that people are daring to do so in small towns where they can be
easily identified by the Communist authorities shows the levels of anger
fuelling these protests.
And
with protesters live-streaming footage on social media sites, the
government is finding it hard to hide evidence of the discontent.
A
video uploaded by the Cuban foreign minister showing government
loyalists marching and shouting "These streets belong to Fidel [Castro,
the late Cuban revolutionary leader]" was quickly countered by
government critics sharing footage of the protests.
Cuba's
economy is struggling. Tourism, one of the most important sectors, has
been devastated by the restrictions on travel during the Covid pandemic.
Sugar, which is mostly exported, is another key earner for Cuba. But this year's harvest has been much worse than expected.
Cuba's
sugar monopoly, Azcuba, said the shortfall was to blame on a number of
factors, including a lack of fuel and the breakdown of machinery which
made bringing in the harvest difficult, as well as natural factors such
as humidity in the fields.
As
a result, the government's reserves of foreign currency are depleted,
meaning it cannot buy in imported goods to supplement shortages, as it
would normally do.
Some
of the demonstrators sang Patria y Vida ("Fatherland and Life"), a rap
and reggaeton hit. Its title plays on a slogan - Fatherland or Death -
which dates back to the 1950s, when the late Fidel Castro's
revolutionaries overthrew the government.
https://www.bbc.com
'Down with Communism!' shout Cubans rallying in the US
Cuban Americans demonstrate in
Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, waving US and Cuban flags in support
of protesters in Cuba - Copyright AFP Eva Marie UZCATEGUI
Gianrigo MARLETTA, with Keely SULLIVAN in Washington
Waving
Cuban and US flags, thousands of Cuban-Americans protested in Miami and
Washington on Monday in support of the historic anti-government
protests on the Communist island, which they hope will usher in sweeping
change.
“This is the moment, there isn’t another, and this is a definite
sign that Communism is going to fall. Down with communism!” said Cuban
Humberto Ponce Diaz at a demonstration in Miami’s “Little Havana”
neighborhood.
Miami mayor Francis Suarez joined the protest that local media
said drew about 5,000 people, and even urged the United States to
intervene.
“Sixty years of Communism, cruelty and oppression cannot last any
longer!” Suarez wrote on Twitter after denouncing Cuban police who beat
and detained some demonstrators.
“We implore the United States to take action as we peacefully demonstrate on the streets of Miami,” he wrote.
The new battle cry of “Homeland and Life!”, which many in Miami
had emblazoned on their T-shirts, was coined in opposition to the
Communist party’s own slogan of “Homeland or Death!”
The protests in Cuba were sparked by anger at an economic crisis
that has worsened shortages of food and medicine, and forced the
government to ration electricity in the sweltering summer heat.
Demonstrators in dozens of Cuban towns and cities also called for
more Covid-19 vaccinations, as the number of cases exploded across the
island.
They shouted “We are hungry”, “Freedom” and “Down with the dictatorship.”
It was the first nationwide popular mobilization against the
government since the 1959 revolution that brought the late Fidel Castro
to power.
Normally, the only authorized rallies in Cuba are those organized by the Communist Party itself.
Although President Miguel Diaz-Canel acknowledged the
“dissatisfaction” of some Cubans, he also accused Washington of wanting
to provoke “social outbreaks,” and gave Communist Party loyalists a
“combat order” to confront the protesters.
In Florida, state Governor Ron DeSantis said on Twitter that
“Florida supports the people of Cuba who take to the streets against the
tyrannical regime in Havana.”
– Protest at the White House –
Many Cubans living in the United States hope that Sunday’s
protests could point to the end of the Communist government on the
island.
On Monday, 25 Cubans protested in front of the White House in the US capital, demanding that President Joe Biden take action.
“I hope that this president and Congress will help my people,” protester Sergio Alvarez, a 32-year-old Cuban, told AFP.
“We need help. It’s very sad,” said the electrician, who said his
father died in Cuba earlier this year due to a lack of medicine.
'Down with Communism!'
shout Cubans rallying in the US
Cubans are seen outside Havana's Capitol during a demonstration against
the government of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Havana, on July
11, 2021. Thousands of Cubans took part in rare protests Sunday against
the communist government, marching through a town chanting (AFP/Yamil
Lage)
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Gianrigo Marlette and Keely Sullivan (AFP)
Miami Beach, United States ● Tue, July 13, 2021
Waving Cuban and US flags, thousands of Cuban-Americans protested in
Miami and Washington on Monday in support of the historic
anti-government protests on the Communist island, which they hope will
usher in sweeping change.
"This is the moment, there isn't another, and this is a definite sign
that Communism is going to fall. Down with communism!" said Cuban
Humberto Ponce Diaz at a demonstration in Miami's "Little Havana"
neighborhood.
Miami mayor Francis Suarez joined the protest that local media said drew
about 5,000 people, and even urged the United States to intervene.
"Sixty years of Communism, cruelty and oppression cannot last any
longer!" Suarez wrote on Twitter after denouncing Cuban police who beat
and detained some demonstrators.
"We implore the United States to take action as we peacefully
demonstrate on the streets of Miami," he wrote.
The new battle cry of "Homeland and Life!", which many in Miami had
emblazoned on their T-shirts, was coined in opposition to the Communist
party's own slogan of "Homeland or Death!"
The protests in Cuba were sparked by anger at an economic crisis that
has worsened shortages of food and medicine, and forced the government
to ration electricity in the sweltering summer heat.
Demonstrators in dozens of Cuban towns and cities also called for more
Covid-19 vaccinations, as the number of cases exploded across the
island.
They shouted "We are hungry", "Freedom" and "Down with the
dictatorship."
It was the first nationwide popular mobilization against the government
since the 1959 revolution that brought the late Fidel Castro to power.
Normally, the only authorized rallies in Cuba are those organized by the
Communist Party itself.
Although President Miguel Diaz-Canel acknowledged the "dissatisfaction"
of some Cubans, he also accused Washington of wanting to provoke "social
outbreaks," and gave Communist Party loyalists a "combat order" to
confront the protesters.
In Florida, state Governor Ron DeSantis said on Twitter that "Florida
supports the people of Cuba who take to the streets against the
tyrannical regime in Havana."
Protest at the White House
Many Cubans living in the United States hope that Sunday's protests
could point to the end of the Communist government on the island.
On Monday, 25 Cubans protested in front of the White House in the US
capital, demanding that President Joe Biden take action.
"I hope that this president and Congress will help my people," protester
Sergio Alvarez, a 32-year-old Cuban, told AFP.
"We need help. It's very sad," said the electrician, who said his father
died in Cuba earlier this year due to a lack of medicine.
Elaine Miranda, a 26-year-old university student, said that Biden "needs
to denounce about what's going on in Cuba, because all the presidents
support the Cuban people."
Biden on Monday urged the Cuban government not to resort to violence and
expressed US support for the protesters.
The president, who took office in January, has not yet reversed
sanctions imposed on Cuba by his predecessor Donald Trump, and had
largely avoided the issue until now.
"I hope that the Cuban people stay out there in the streets. I hope they
fight. They fight for their freedom," said Cuban-America former Marine
Gianni Leyva, 35.
"And I hope the American government will allow the Cubans here to go
help. We want to help -- me as a veteran -- and there are many veterans
out there that have served in the American military, are ready to go
fight for the freedoms if we are allowed."
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ABOVE VIDEO: Thousands of Cubans took to the streets to protest the government.
(FOX NEWS)
– Video emerged on social media Sunday showing anti-government
protesters in Cuba holding an American flag during their effort to end
the country’s communist dictatorship blamed for the worsening
conditions.
Giancarlo Sopo, a communication strategist who, according to the
Federalist, once worked on former President Trump’s re-election
campaign, tweeted a video of protesters holding an American flag while
they marched.
“This is deeply moving,” he posted. “Watch as Cubans wave American
flag while marching against the island’s 62 year-old communist dictator
on the streets of Havana. Never forget what America represents to
millions across the world.”
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., also tweeted, “Protesters in America:
Burn the US Flag, a symbol of freedom, liberty, & justice—ideals
that EVERY American possesses but so often ignore. VS. Protesters in
Cuba: Fly the America Flag & are willing to die for the freedom,
liberty, & justice that’s synonymous with the USA.”
The German scholars Karl Marx (1818–1883) and Friedrich Engels
(1820–1895) founded the communist ideology. Communism, the social
formation that was to follow capitalism, was to be built after a violent
worldwide revolution starting from the most highly developed capitalist
countries.
Fact 2
The first requirement of building communism after the revolution
was the confiscation of the property of members of the ‘exploitative’
classes and their suppression, deportation, imprisonment and physical
destruction, often together with the members of their families.
Fact 3
The Eastern Bloc disintegrated together with the collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1989–1991. Communist parties did not come to power as a
result of the democratic process nor did they succeed in retaining
power when democracy was restored.
Communism is a political ideology born in the
19th century that set as its objective the building of a classless
society in which all means of production and all that is produced is
owned in common by all members of society. Private property is replaced
by public property. Communism is totalitarian by its nature. Its
objective was the subjugation of the whole of society to ideology and
the exclusive leadership of the Communist Party.
The social
system based on communist ideology is also referred to as communism,
which was supposed to be the ultimate aim of social development.
Communist terror. The
first requirement of building communism after the revolution was the
confiscation of the property of members of the ‘exploitative’ classes
and their suppression, deportation, imprisonment and physical
destruction, often together with the members of their families. Tens of
millions of people fell victim to it in the 20th century.
The dictatorship of the proletariat
was established after the victory of the revolution. The Communist
Party’s Politburo ran the state, but an attribute of power was the
compulsory elections at all levels of power with candidates selected by
the Party leadership who belonged to the ‘block of communists and
non-party members’. Election results were rigged in order to achieve the
predetermined result.
Industrialisation, collectivisation and cultural revolution
were the forced modernisation of society for the creation of the
‘material and intellectual base’ for communist society. This meant the
preferential development of industry, especially heavy industry, the
replacement of individual farm holdings with collective farms, and the
subjugation of education, culture and science to communist ideology.
* * *
The German scholars Karl Marx (1818–1883)
and Friedrich Engels (1820–1895) founded the communist ideology.
Communism, the social formation that was to follow capitalism, was to be
built after a violent worldwide revolution starting from the most
highly developed capitalist countries. The most progressive class, the
working class, was to build communism under the leadership of its
avant-garde, the Communist Party, under the conditions of the
dictatorship of the proletariat. The state was supposed to disappear
over time in a communist society.
Communists hoped that the worldwide
revolution would break out at the end of World War I. The seizure of
power by the Bolsheviks in Russia in November of 1917 was seen as the
fuse for this revolution. The worldwide revolution did not break out,
but the governments of a Europe worn out by the world war treated many
of the uprisings of workers and soldiers that were led by communists as a
real danger that could lead to such a revolution.
The Comintern founded in Moscow in 1919
was a worldwide organisation. Communist parties throughout the world
operated as its sections. Jossif Stalin (1878–1953), who rose to the
position of leader of the Soviet Union after Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924),
the leader of the Bolsheviks, developed a theory of building socialism
in one country. Socialism was supposed to be a preparatory stage in the
transition to a communist system of society. At the outset of the 1960s,
the leader of the USSR Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971) announced the
intention to establish communism in the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Yet
the Soviet Union’s economic situation, the ‘material base’ for building
communism on which the principle of distribution ‘from each according to
his abilities, to each according to his needs’ would have been founded,
started worsening instead in the 1970s.
Socialism in the Soviet Union, in turn, was divided into three stages:
1) the building of socialism (1918–1936)
and the dictatorship of the proletariat, when the civic rights of
members of the former ‘exploitative classes’ were restricted;
2) built socialism (1936–1977);
3) developed socialism (1977–1991): the
creation of the public state and the Soviet people, in which hitherto
existing nationalities were supposed to melt into one.
In 1944–1949, the Soviet Union subjugated
the countries of Eastern Europe, where the socialist organisation of
society was established. Communists also came to power in China.
Socialism was established in the form of so-called people’s democracy in
the Eastern European countries. Some miniature political parties
(Christian Democrats, agrarian parties, and others) were allowed to
operate under communist control, and in some countries, small private
land holdings were also allowed (for instance in Poland).
* * *
Communism is an equalising ideology of
redemption with its own original sin (one person’s exploitation by
another) and paradise (communist society). The Party leadership
established the exclusively valid truth of communism. The primary enemy
of the only progressive class, the proletariat, was the exploitative
classes, above all the bourgeoisie. As happens among people of the same
denomination, currents that diverged from the mainstream established by
the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union (such as Trotskyism, Maoism, Eurocommunism, and many
others) emerged and the supporters of these variants were persecuted.
Communism considered the ascertainment of
alleged laws of the development of human society to be the greatest
achievement of Marx and Engels. Lenin, the leader of the Russian
Bolsheviks, worked out instructions for seizing power and establishing a
communist state based on the texts of Marx and Engels. His successors
developed these instructions further in accordance with changing
conditions. Communism claimed to be a scientific political doctrine,
from which followed its alleged supremacy compared to other political
ideologies. Classical German philosophy, English political economy, and
utopian French socialism were considered to be the predecessors of
communist ideology. The following three components of communist ideology
continued to develop these three fields of knowledge: dialectic and
historical materialism (philosophy), political economy (economic theory)
and scientific communism (politology).
The dogmas of communist ideology were
clear and simple, and students at all levels of education from primary
school to doctoral studies were forced to master them. Other ideologies
were forbidden and the dissemination of texts containing ‘hostile’
ideologies was a criminal offence. Communism is totalitarian by its
nature. Its objective was the subjugation of the whole of society to
ideology and the exclusive leadership of the Party Politburo that
controlled the establishment of that ideology. After the hope for
worldwide revolution had come to nothing and the ‘temporary
stabilisation of capitalism’, the Soviet Union withdrew into itself, as
other communist states likewise did later. Relations between its
subjects and the rest of the world were obstructed.
The former elite was done away with and
partially destroyed, and their property was confiscated. The new elite
consisted of opportunists – many of the revolutionaries in all countries
were members of the ‘exploitative classes’ according to their
background – or people of humble background raised to the fore, who had
rendered services either in revolutionary struggle or in war and whose
education included only that which had been established with communist
ideology.
The building of socialism, as a
prerequisite of the forging of a communist system of organising society,
lay in the forcible and violent modernisation of society. Unlike what
Marx and Engels had predicted, communists came to power in economically
backward countries with a large relative proportion of rural population.
The objective of modernisation was to create the ‘material base’ for
communism: industrialisation (the preferential development of heavy
industry and urbanisation, among other things to enlarge the working
class) and collectivisation (the replacement of individual farm holdings
with kolkhozes and sovkhozes (collective farms), among other things to
decrease the class of peasants who formerly were private owners of farm
holdings).
One of the consequences of both policies
was food shortages and famines in many regions, with vast numbers of
victims. The third reorganisation, cultural revolution, lay in the
liquidation of illiteracy and the replacement of hitherto existing
culture with one based on the canons of communist ideology. In science,
natural sciences, the exact sciences and engineering were preferred.
Social sciences were under Party control.
Regardless of its totalitarianism and
thanks to vigorous propaganda, communist ideology often managed to
achieve broad support for a short period of time in countries ruled by
communist parties as well as outside the Eastern Bloc. Declarative
anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism and anti-capitalism enticed European
intellectuals in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Eastern Bloc disintegrated together
with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989–1991. Communist parties
did not come to power as a result of the democratic process nor did they
succeed in retaining power when democracy was restored. Communism,
which predicted the future of society according to Western Europe’s
level of development in the 19th century, proved to be wrong. Communist
regimes collapsed into incapacity to provide economic and social
well-being. The Communist Party admittedly rules China, one of the
world’s most powerful countries, to this day, but communist economic
principles have largely been abandoned there.
The aim of the CommunistCrimes portal is to raise
international awareness about the crimes against humanity, committed by
communist regimes worldwide. We cooperate with independent historians
and researchers. The website is managed by the Estonian Institute of
Historical Memory, an international non-governmental and academic
research institution with over 20 years of experience.
https://communistcrimes.org
'We are no longer afraid': Thousands of Cubans protest against the government
Residents
took to the streets in an unprecedented demonstration against
increasing Covid-19 cases and deaths and severe economic shortages.
By Jorge Carrasco, Noticias Telemundo
Thousands
of Cubans took to the streets across the country on Sunday in an
unusual protest in which civilians shouted slogans against the Communist
government, such as “We want freedom” and “We are no longer afraid.”
The
demonstrations came at a time when Cuba faces the worst economic crisis
since the fall of the Soviet Union, an increase in repression against
political opponents and a strained health system during a critical stage
of the pandemic. Health authorities reported almost 7,000 new cases and
47 deaths — a record for infections and deaths on the Caribbean island
of just over 11 million people.
In
Miami, hundreds of people gathered in the Little Havana neighborhood in
solidarity with the growing protests in Cuba. “I know my family in Cuba
is struggling, people are dying. It’s terrible,” Miami resident
Christian Guzmán told NBC station WTVJ.
“Right
now it’s hard. There’s no food, there’s no medicine. The Covid
outbreak. The whole country is in the streets,” another Miami resident,
Darío Suárez, said.
People take part in a demonstration in Havana, on July 11, 2021.Yamil Lage / AFP - Getty Images
In
Cuba, the protests began early Sunday afternoon in the municipality of
San Antonio de los Baños, in the Artemisa province, adjacent to Havana. A
few hours later they had spread to the east of the country, in
provinces such as Santiago de Cuba.
The central Malecón
of the capital, where in August 1994 Cubans staged a historic protest
against then-leader Fidel Castro that was violently repressed, also saw
hundreds of protesters gather on Sunday.
Cubans in
several provinces contacted by Noticias Telemundo confirmed that the
government, which controls the only internet provider company on the
island, has caused service outages to prevent live broadcasts.
“They
do not want the world to see what is happening in Cuba,” said a
resident from Havana who asked not to be identified for fear of
reprisals from the regime.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel
appeared on national television to call on the Army to confront the
protesters: “The order to fight has been given,” he said.
In
Cuba, videos broadcast on social networks, which could be verified by
Noticias Telemundo, show special agents known in Cuba as Black Berets,
being deployed in some localities and violently detaining civilians who
protested and sang peacefully.
Díaz-Canel also called
“all the revolutionaries in the country, all the communists, to take to
the streets and go to the places where these provocations are going to
take place.”
In recent days, Cuban exiles and
high-profile personalities have joined the #SOSCuba campaign to demand
that the island’s authorities open a humanitarian channel that allows
the entry of medicines and supplies to treat the almost 240,000 patients
with coronavirus.
The
authorities have mocked the initiative on national television and
described it as an attempt to discredit the government’s management of
the health crisis, which has the island’s hospitals on the edge.
Cubans
whose relatives have died from coronavirus in recent days have gone on
social networks to talk about the seriousness of the health crisis,
which currently has its epicenter in the province of Matanzas, known for
Varadero, a popular beach resort town.
“My
mother just died. We were in isolation for four days. Four days calling
the SIUM (Integrated System of Medical Emergencies) to come and look
for her. Four days and the SIUM did not arrive,” said Magdiel Matos
outside a hospital in Matanzas.
Opposition
artists and independent journalists have said for weeks that the
government has maintained police patrols outside their homes, while
reports persist of patients who could not be transferred to hospitals on
time due to lack of transportation and resources.
“Take
these patrols to transport the sick, open the hotels to house them,
facilitate the arrival of donated medicines and medical utensils,” poet
and activist Katherine Bisquet said from Havana, pointing out a police
car stationed in the basement of the building.
Cuba did
not join COVAX, the World Health Organization agency that seeks to
disseminate Covid-19 vaccines in poorer countries, instead betting on
the production of its own vaccines.
One of those five
vaccine candidates, Abdala, received approval for emergency use this
week. The government has stated that the vaccine, the first produced in
Latin America, is 92.8 percent effective after three doses, but has not
published data on clinical studies and it hasn't received the approval
of any international health organization.
In Miami, with
the largest community of Cuban exiles in the U.S., Cuban-born
congresswoman María Elvira Salazar said, “We have not seen in recent
years a popular uprising as big as this one.”
Mass
protests are rare on the island and, when they do occur, they are
quickly put down. Cuban politicians and the official press, the only one
allowed by law in Cuba, often discredit dissidents by saying that they
respond to the interests of the United States and that they receive
funding for subversion.
The acting deputy secretary of
the U.S. State Department’s Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Julie
Chung, defended the protests on Twitter, saying that peaceful protests
were growing as people exercise their right to peaceful assembly to
express their concern over the increase in Covid-19 cases and deaths.
The
coronavirus crisis, which caused the closure of airports and slowed
tourism by more than 80 percent — Cuba’s second source of income after
its medical missions — has exacerbated the shortage and fueled popular
discontent.
The Cuban government attributes the economic
crisis to U.S. embargo against Cuba and sanctions, which former
President Donald Trump intensified. The Biden Administration has shown
no signs of wanting to roll back sanctions, instead demanding that the
government release political prisoners and respect dissenting voices.
As
some of the largest street protests seen in decades erupted in Cuba,
Florida political leaders in both parties hailed the uprising and
declared solidarity with the Cuban people.
Cuba
is suffering through its worst economic crisis in decades, coupled with
a resurgence of coronavirus cases. The circumstances erupted into
massive street protests with thousands of Cubans demanding change.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a
Cuban American and staunch opponent of the Cuban government, is
offering running commentary as events unfold. Unlike some other
political leaders, though, Rubio took opportunities to scattershot his
grievances, aiming his ire as much toward American news organizations
and the Biden administration as he did at the Cuban regime.
“The socialist goon squad is now on the
street beating peaceful protestors. So far not seeing much interest from
US National media outlets,” Rubio tweeted.
He then extended his media critique to Twitter, for an objectionable framing of the events.
“Surreal but not surprising. Twittersays this all about COVID ‘awareness’ in #Cuba. Ignores this is really about how socialism is a disaster & always leads to tyranny, despair & suffering,” Rubio noted.
The Senator was not done.
“It’s 5:36 PM in the east. A historic day of unprecedented protests going on against socialism in #Cuba So far CNN in the U.S. says nothing to see here but gives coverage to the world’s ‘deepest pool’ in Dubai,” Rubio noted.
Rubio’s greatest frustration arguably was from the White House, however.
Rubio tweeted throughout the night,
warning of a state response that includes the abduction of opposition
leaders and then an official response from the Cuban government that
includes a scapegoat.
“Lots of behind the scenes whispering in the regime about the fake President of #Cuba
Remember this system always needs a scapegoat. Expect him to appear
tomorrow on National TV again with the entire “cabinet” to try &
show he has it all under control,” Rubio tweeted overnight.
While Rubio was the most outspoken on this issue as of early Monday morning, many from both parties share his position.
Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny A. Diaz, also Cuban American,condemned the Cuban government’s response as “a call for bloodshed.”
“As I write this, the Cuban government
is showing the world that it is nothing more than a repressive tyranny,
holding on to a failed and cruel economic and political model,” Diaz
said in a written statement. “Miguel Diaz Canel’s orders to beat and
arrest peaceful protesters, and his calls for confrontation between his
supporters and the protesters are basically a call for a civil war
within the island. Make no mistake, this is call for bloodshed, while
the country suffers one of its worst humanitarian crises in decades.
“The
courageous people of Cuba took to the streets determined to regain
their freedom and demand the end of the dictatorship,” asserted U.S.
Sen. Rick Scott. “The people of Cuba are not afraid, your time is up!”
“The Biden administration should quickly
denounce any detention or violence toward peaceful protestors in Cuba.
America & every freedom-loving nation must fully support the brave
Cuban people in their calls for liberty & human dignity. The world
is watching,” Scott added.
Rubio’s likely opponent in the 2022 U.S. Senate election, Orlando Democratic Rep. Val Demings, declared that Cubans’ future is being decided.”
“The voices of the Cuban people must be
paramount. It is their nation’s future being decided. It is my hope that
Cuba’s path will be one of democracy and unalienable human rights,” she
said in a written statement. “I strongly support the peaceful
protesters in Cuba as they struggle for their right to create their own
future. I condemn all violent repression of the Cuban people by the
current regime. Violence against protesters is unacceptable. The
suppression of the free press is unacceptable. The Cuban people, like
all people, deserve democracy, liberty, health, security, and
prosperity. U.S. policy must support the protesters, their safety, and
their right to self-determination.”
U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz was succinct: “#CubaEsUnaDictadura Stand for freedom for its long-suffering people,” the Daytona Republican tweeted.
Gov. Ron DeSantis was unambiguous on Twitter Sunday afternoon.
“Florida supports the people of Cuba as
they take to the streets against the tyrannical regime in Havana. The
Cuban dictatorship has repressed the people of Cuba for decades & is
now trying to silence those who have the courage to speak out against
its disastrous policies,” DeSantis tweeted.
At least one Florida Democrat marked the irony, noting DeSantis’ own opposition to protest movements closer to home.
“Says the Governor who pushed through
House Bill 1, a bill motivated as a means to silence racial justice
protests,” snarked Rep. Anna V. Eskamani on Twitter.
The Lieutenant Governor, meanwhile, delivered a video message.
Senate President Wilton Simpson said “Floridians stand with the people of Cuba today.”
“May their courage and action bring the
freedom, dignity and human rights they have long been denied,” the
Trilby Republican added.
State Sen. Ileana Garcia offered an apt observation: “Freedom in Cuba is symbolized with the American flag.”
“I
stand with our brothers and sisters fighting for freedom against
decades of tyranny, repression, misery and countless human rights
violations under the communist Castro regime. I pray their courage and
strength leads to a free Cuba.,” said Rep. Bryan Avila.
Miami-Dade Mayor Danielle Levine Cava was no less direct in support of the protests.
“We stand united with the Cuban people
on the island and across our community at this historic moment in the
struggle for freedom, dignity, and basic human rights – may their
courageous actions bring about real change and move us closer to the
dream of a free Cuba,” Cava, also a Democrat, urged.
Democratic Tampa Councilman Luis Viera
was likewise staunchly with the people protesting: “Here in West Tampa
to stand in solidarity with Cubans protesting 90 miles from Florida for
liberty, food & COVID vaccinations. I’m a proud son of Cuban
refugees & am proud to use my voice to support change in Cuba.”
___
Reporting from The Associated Press was used in this post.
Protesters in Cuba are calling for the ‘end of the communist state,’ historian says
Lillian Guerra, who writes extensively on the politics of Cuba, has
been following the protests from her home in Gainesville, Florida. She
joined The World's host Marco Werman to talk about the significance of
protests over the weekend.
Backers of the government march in Havana, Cuba, July 11, 2021.
Hundreds of supporters of the government took to the streets while
hundreds protested against ongoing food shortages and high prices of
foodstuffs.
Credit:
Ismael Francisco/AP
An astonishing scene unfolded in Cuba over the weekend as thousands
took part in anti-government demonstrations across the island.
In Bejucal, a town south of Havana, protesters cheered, "Libertad, libertad!" ("Liberty, liberty!")
This
was a rare moment in a nation that typically cracks down hard on
dissent. Protesters took to the streets to express frustration with food
shortages and high prices amid the coronavirus crisis.
Cuban
President Miguel Díaz-Canel, however, said the demonstrations were
stirred up on social media by Cuban Americans in the United States.
Several videos of the protests circulated online throughout the weekend. Hundreds of government supporters also took to the streets in counterprotests.
Historian
Lillian Guerra has written extensively about the politics of Cuba and
has been following the protests from her home in Gainesville, Florida.
She joined The World's host Marco Werman to talk about the significance
of the demonstrations over the weekend.
The
videos from Sunday looked like protests you might see anywhere around
the globe. But this is Cuba. How unusual is it for people to come out in
the streets and voice their grievances on the island?
Lillian
Guerra: Really, there has been nothing like this since the first three
days of January 1959, when another dictatorship was toppled, that of
[Fulgencio] Batista, and that the new revolutionary government, not yet
communist, led by Fidel Castro, was attempting to take power and very
fearful at the time that the military might try to stage an
interventionist or transitional government instead. So, this is nothing
like what we've seen before.And the extent is not just that Cuba doesn't
have very many street protests. When we have street protests, they tend
to be in Havana, they tend to be very small and they're immediately
repressed. Everybody is jailed, taken away and whatever violence that is
done to them is done behind closed doors. So, this is different because
you have the magnitude and you have the protests happening from
Oriente, the far eastern province of Cuba, all the way, really, to the
end of the island. And I have to say that it is not just heartening to
see the kind of courage that Cubans have, but what I see there is a
tremendous degree of power that they feel now that they have to speak
their voice.
So, we heard the shouts of libertad or "liberty." What do the protesters want? What are the issues?
I
think that there are a number of sparks to this. There has been a lot
of fuel over the course of the last year and a half as COVID has
intensified already-existing scarcities, has revealed the degree to
which the government is unwilling to make any kinds of economic reforms
that would broaden the access that Cubans have to the capitalist sector
of the economy that is not controlled by the government. Children have
been isolated at home, as well. They haven't been able to attend school.
So, you have multigenerational conversations happening in the home
analyzing what's going on in the street because there have been very
long ration lines.
So,
are Cubans dissatisfied with a few things that are not going right and
basically asking their government to do better? Or do these protests
suggest a wider dissatisfaction with the entire socialist system? What
is your read?
Oh,
I definitely think that what they're calling for is an end to the
communist state. And I think that, you know, for at least the 27 years
that I've been traveling and living in Cuba, I have seen that most
Cubans, unless they're militants of the Communist Party — and only about
10% are — feel that they want a different government, and they want
multiparty elections, etc. They would love to have freedom of the
press.They have, sort of, created it through social media, but they
don't have it, you know, and I do think that the degree and tenor of
these protests, the fact that people are openly calling for patria y vida,
"life and fatherland," and denouncing the state as a dictatorship
openly, these are things that we have never seen before and we have
never seen them last more than two to three minutes, literally. And this
is just extraordinary.
Cuban
President Miguel Diáz-Canel has labeled the protesters "vulgar
criminals." We know Cuba is known for putting dissidents in prison, and
many of these protesters were arrested. Are those protesters now in
danger? And where does this leave any semblance of a movement?
The
problem here is that the Cuban state cannot put the finger on any one
group. And so, there is no organized opposition. These are protests that
are not necessarily spontaneous, but that have gained credibility and
ground and numbers. And so, you can't tell everybody. What you can do is
cut off their Wi-Fi and their internet and prevent them from
broadcasting the videos of what is happening.And I think that that is
something they did overnight. They will surely try to do it again. Those
who are in prison, who knows what will happen to them? I mean, they are
seen as anti-Cuban mercenaries of a foreign power, which is, of course,
the United States. And it is utterly absurd to accuse them of being
that. But this is the line that the Cuban state has taken for 60 years
when it comes to its opponents and its critics.
Do you think the protests are going to continue? I mean, how deep is the desire for communism to end?
I
have no doubt that they will continue. I don't know that they will be
able to take this kind of scale, because the Cuban state has massive
resources allocated toward both uniformed and un-uniformed security
forces. So, the repression will be dramatic and it will continue
parallel to whatever protests there might be, big or small. I do think
that once you have this kind of explosion, you can't turn back the page
of history.You march forward. And this is, I think, going to be clear to
Cubans. I don't think that the Cuban state is suddenly going to reverse
course, you know, and drop all of the positions that it very recently
broadcast and took in its latest Communist Party Congress. So, as long
as they're going to stick to non-negotiation of anything and one-party
rule and a constitution that mandates loyalty to that one-party rule, we
have a standoff between state and nation.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. AP contributed to this report.
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