Cuba slams US ‘involvement’ on anniversary of anti-gov’t protests

Havana accuses Washington of helping to ‘subvert law and order’ after Blinken hails determination of Cuban protesters.

Cuba’s foreign minister has accused the United States of being involved in efforts to “subvert law and order” in the country after President Joe Biden’s administration welcomed the courage of Cuban protesters who took to the streets last year in rare anti-government demonstrations.

In a statement on Monday marking the one-year anniversary of the Cuban protests, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington “celebrate[s] the Cuban people and commend[s] their indomitable determination in the face of oppression”.

“To the Cuban people: Americans watched with admiration on July 11, 2021 as tens of thousands of you took to the streets to raise your voices for human rights, fundamental freedoms, and a better life. And we stand with you as the Cuban regime, instead of welcoming the voices of the people, has condemned hundreds of protestors to decades-long prison sentences,” Blinken said.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez shot back on Twitter, saying Havana rejected Blinken’s comments “confirming direct involvement of government of that country in attempts to subvert order and peace in #Cuba in violation of International Law”.

Thousands of Cubans took to the streets in the capital Havana and other towns on July 11, 2021, in protest over rising food costs, medical shortages and dire socio-economic conditions that worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of the protesters took direct aim at the government of President Miguel Diaz-Canel, chanting “down with the dictatorship” and “we want liberty.” The all-but-unheard-of demonstrations rocked the Caribbean country, where authorities launched a mass crackdown on participants.

“During the protests, and in the weeks following them, the authorities arbitrarily detained hundreds of people without informing their families of their whereabouts, kept activists and independent journalists under extreme surveillance and cut off the population’s internet access,” Amnesty International said in a factsheet on Monday marking the anniversary.