Cuba: Counter-revolutionary violence will be suppressed, the government threatens

36-year-old dead, about 130 inmates or missing, mobile internet cut off: two days after anti-government protests, the communist government Bucket denies that there is an issue of “social explosion” on the island. The man took part in a demonstration on Monday on the outskirts of Havana and was killed during clashes between protesters and police. The Cuban Interior Ministry has expressed its “regret” for the death of the protester, according to APE.

“On July 11, there was no social explosion in Cuba and it was not because of the will of our people and the support of our people for the Revolution and its government,” Foreign Minister Bruno Rodrεςguez told a news conference. It was a “very limited riot” and the conditions in the country are “completely normal”, he assured. Like his predecessor, Miguel Diaz-Canel, and former Cuban presidents, the foreign minister accused Washington of being responsible, through a policy of sanctions and an Internet campaign, for the unprecedented protests that erupted on Sunday. , in forty cities and villages with slogans “We are hungry” and “Down with dictatorship”.

Yesterday, about 130 people were in jail or have been reported missing, according to a list posted on Twitter by the San Isidro movement. The detainees include Jose Daniel Ferrer, Manuel Cuesta Morua and Berta Soler, three prominent opposition figures, and Camila Acosta, a 28-year-old Cuban who has worked for the Spanish newspaper ABC for six months. “It seems inappropriate to arrest a Spanish ABC journalist,” said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who called on Havana to respect Cubans’ right to freedom of expression.

At the time when no official number was announced for the arrests, families were trying to get information from the police stations about their arrested relatives. US Secretary of State Julie Chang yesterday denounced “the violence and arrests, as well as the disappearance of independent activists” and called for their “immediate release”. Iran has accused Washington of “seeking to interfere in Cuba’s internal affairs”. Tranquility prevailed in Havana on Tuesday, where the presence of police, soldiers and political agents was strong. The mobile internet remains cut off.

The NetBlocks Observatory has identified problems with the operation of social networks such as WhatsApp and Facebook. “It is true that we do not have mobile internet, but we also lack medicines,” Bruno Rodrεςguez said when asked. “I must say that Cuba will not relinquish its right to self-defense,” he warned. Washington has called for a speedy recovery of “all media, online and offline.” “The closure of the information channels (…) does not meet the needs and legitimate expectations of the Cuban people at all,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price.

The United States has said, however, that it will not allow Cubans who try to escape by sea to enter US territory. “I do not think we are on the brink of a bilateral crisis unless the US government wants it,” said the Cuban foreign minister. In Miami and Washington, Cuban Americans gathered to support the protests in Cuba. Solidarity rallies were also held in Brazil, Ecuador and Uruguay. In Cuba, Catholic bishops called on the government and protesters to “agree” to avoid violence. “People have the right to express their needs, desires and hopes,” the statement said.

As a sign of the seriousness of the situation, Raul Castro, 90, who left the reins of the Communist Party in April to Miguel Dias Canel, was recruited to attend the meeting of the Politburo of the Communist Party on Sunday during which the orchestrated by counter-revolutionary elements, organized and funded by the United States for destabilizing purposes, “wrote the official Granma newspaper. “We will avoid revolutionary violence, but we will suppress counter-revolutionary violence,” warned Miguel Dias Canel.