Cuba: act of “revolutionary reaffirmation” in Havana | With the presence of Raúl Castro

As in all key moments of the Cuban Revolution, the response to the challenges came from the hand of massive participation. At dawn on Saturday, he found the Havana Malecón covered by a crowd who, under the slogans of “Down with the Yankees!”, “We were born to win and not to be defeated!” revolutionary “proposed by the Cuban government a week after the start of the media offensive unleashed after protests over the island’s economic situation.

There is “an overflowing hatred in social networks”, denounced Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, and “what the world of Cuba sees is a lie”, he declared. The Cuban “is not a government that represses its people,” the president said. But “no lie has been raised by chance or mistake, everything is coldly calculated in an unconventional war manual,” he added.

He also claimed that what happened “will be re-examined in light of possible mistakes that could be made, especially during the last two years of intense pressure” when the United States stepped up economic sanctions against Cuba. in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic.

“For the defense of the Cuban Revolution, a politico-cultural act is organized on the Malecón of Havana. Alongside the people, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, CPC First Secretary Miguel Díaz-Canel and other leaders of the CPC, government and mass organizations, ”the Cuban government’s Twitter account announced in start of the rally.

“What the world of Cuba sees is a lie“Diaz-Cabel spoke of the dissemination of“ false images ”on social networks, which“ encourage and glorify outrage and destruction of property ”.

“We were born to win and not to be defeated!” Cried the crowd that the Cuban government estimated at 100,000 participants, summoned since dawn, through work centers and universities, on the Malecón de Havana. With Díaz-Canel, there was Raúl Castro, 90 years old.

“Anyone who has sympathy for the Revolution, who has felt sympathy for Fidel, who has felt sympathy for what has been done in this country and what must continue to be done, knows what the presence of Raúl there, ”said Carlos Cruz, 65. retirement.

According to the official journal GrannyEvents are also planned for Saturday in other cities of the country such as Santiago de Cuba, Bayamo, Camagüey and Santa Clara. These concentrations take place with Cuba plunged into the worst moment of the pandemic, although still far from the figures posted by the United States or Argentina itself: Havana recorded 763 new infections yesterday, one of the records the highest since the start of the coronavirus health crisis.

“They threw us with everything and, worst of all, they wanted to divide us,” said Gerardo Hernández, deputy of the National Assembly and another of the speakers of the event. Hernández, the national coordinator of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, is considered a hero in Cuba, being one of five Cuban agents imprisoned for years in the United States accused of espionage and who were returned in the island thanks to a prisoner exchange agreement in 2014.

The chef assured that Among the Cubans who took to the streets to demonstrate, there were people with legitimate concerns and problems, and he ratified them that they can count on the Revolution.

“The duty of revolutionaries is to get closer to these people, even those who think differently, and to listen to them, to speak, to find common ground,” he stressed.

Hernández also referred to the hate campaign unleashed against the Caribbean nation: “They threw us with everything and the worst part was that they wanted to divide us,” he said, adding that unity is the target because they know that throughout history, it has enabled Cuba to “overcome all crises and move forward”.

The act of “revolutionary reaffirmation” was the massive response to the demonstrations organized last weekend, the largest since the Maleconazo of August 5, 1994. The anti-government demonstrations reflected the difficult economic and social situation the country is going through in the midst of of the pandemic, which has paralyzed the entire tourism sector, fundamental for foreign currency income, and the strengthening of the blockade decided by Donald Trump and still in force under Joe Biden.

Mobile Internet access was cut on the island from Sunday noon to Wednesday morning, before being restored but unstable. Faced with complaints that the outage was due to the start of the protests, Cuba responded that its servers had been damaged by a cyber attack that began on July 11.