Luis Almagro: “We condemn the Cuban dictatorial regime for calling on civilians to repress”

“We recognize the legitimate claim of Cuban society for medicine, food and fundamental freedoms,” Luis Almagro said on his Twitter account. And he added: “We condemn the dictatorial Cuban regime for calling on civilians to repress and confront those who exercise their right to demonstrate.”

The Secretary General of the OAS denounced the threats of the leader of the Castro dictatorship, Miguel Dias Canel, who promised repression and called on the “communist revolutionaries” to fight the Cuban protesters.. “We are ready to give our life. They must step over our corpses if they want to face the revolution. We are ready for anything, ”Díaz Canel said in statements to the Telesur network.

“We are not going to allow any counterrevolutionary, mercenary, sold to the American Empire, to cause destabilization,” he said. And he threatened: “There will be a revolutionary response. That is why we call on all communists to take to the streets where these provocations are going to take place and to confront them decisively ”.

Overwhelmed by the health crisis and stifled by the worsening repression, Cubans spontaneously took to the streets to demand medicines, humanitarian aid and basic necessities. Shouting “Down with dictatorship!”, “Freedom” and “homeland and life”, thousands of people organized an unprecedented day

Moments before Almagro, the United States took the floor, which also denounced the threats of Díaz Canel. Julie Chung, Acting US Under Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs., assured that Joe Biden’s government is deeply concerned for “calls to battle”. “We defend the right of peaceful assembly of the Cuban people. We call for calm and condemn all types of violence ”.

Thousands of Cubans took to the streets of Havana on Sunday shouting “freedom” during peaceful protests, which were intercepted by security forces and brigades of regime supporters, prompting violent clashes and arrests.

The clashes between the demonstrators and the pro-dictatorship took place in the central park of the Fraternidad, in front of the Capitol, where more than a thousand people gathered with a strong presence of the military and police forces, who proceeded to several arrests.

However, a group of several hundred demonstrators managed to escape the police cordon and marched en masse along the iconic Paseo del Prado towards the Malecón with arms raised and shouting slogans such as “freedom,” ” homeland and life “and” dictators “, Referring to the leaders of the country.

In a country known for its crackdown on dissent, the rallies were seen as surprising. Activists and analysts told the New York Times that this was the first time so many people have publicly protested against the Communist government since the so-called Maleconazo uprising, which erupted in the summer of 1994 in a huge wave of Cubans. leaving the country by sea.

Carolina Barrero, a Cuban activist, went further. “It is the most massive popular demonstration against the government that we have seen in Cuba since 59”, he said via text message, referring to the year Fidel Castro took power. He called Sunday’s public demonstration “spontaneous, frontal and energetic”. “What happened is huge,” he added.

The protests were sparked by the severe economic crisis in Cuba, where the coronavirus pandemic has cut crucial dollars for tourism. People spend hours in line every day to buy basic food. Many have not been able to work because restaurants and other businesses have been closed for months.

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