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By Nelson Acosta
HAVANA (Reuters) – Raul Castro was among thousands who attended a government-organized rally in Havana on Saturday to denounce the US trade embargo and reaffirm their support for the Cuban revolution, a week after protests unprecedented shook the communist country.
Government supporters gathered on the city’s waterfront boulevard before dawn to wave Cuban flags and photos of the late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and his brother Raul. The latter retired as leader of the Communist Party in April but promised to continue fighting for the revolution as an “infantryman”.
The rally was a reaction to protests https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/street-protests-break-out-cuba-2021-07-11 which erupted across the country last Sunday amid widespread shortages commodities, political rights demands and the island nation’s worst coronavirus outbreak since the pandemic began.
The government admitted https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-lifts-food-medicine-customs-restrictions-after-protests-2021-07-15 some shortcomings this week but mainly blamed https: / / www .reuters.com / world / americas / cubas-president-blames-discontent-us-sanctions-2021-07-12 protests against US-funded “counter-revolutionaries” exploiting economic hardship caused by US sanctions.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who also heads the Communist Party, told the crowd that “Cuba’s enemy has once again thrown itself into the destruction of sacred unity and the tranquility of the citizens.”
He said it was no small feat to call a rally as the country saw a growing number of COVID cases: “We have called you in to once again denounce the blockade, aggression and terror” .
Authorities said similar rallies took place across the country.
“This revolution will continue for a long time,” said Margaritza Arteaga, a state social worker who attended the rally in Havana.
The workers had been summoned by neighborhood neighborhood committees, known as the committees for the defense of the revolution, she said, and a state bus picked her up at 4 a.m.
Shortly before the rally officially started in Havana, authorities expelled a man from the crowd shouting anti-government slogans, including “freedom.”
Number of people detained during or after protests has risen as new reports pour in amid irregular https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-unrest-idAFKBN2EJ218 in internet and messaging applications on the island where the state has a telecommunications monopoly.
The latest count from exiles rights group Cubalex puts the number of people detained at 450, although some have since been released. Activists accused law enforcement officials as some videos appeared on social media of police beating protesters.
The government has yet to give official figures on those detained, although it has said it has arrested those it suspected of causing unpatriotic unrest or vandalism. State television broadcast footage of people looting controversial Cuban dollar stores and overturning empty police cars.
(Reporting by Nelson Acosta and Reuters TV; Additional reporting and writing by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
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