Miguel Díaz-Canel on the protests in Cuba: “There is a policy of economic suffocation to provoke social riots” | He went on TV and explained the reasons for the power outages

The Cuban President, Miguel Díaz-Canel, appeared this morning before the national television of this country to “clarify a whole set of matrices which tried to impose actions to discredit the Government and the Revolution”. The president had already described the demonstrations as “actions of political destabilization” which had suffered the interference of the United States. He said Washington has “a policy of economic suffocation to cause social epidemics in the country.”

Accompanied by members of his Executive and the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba, the president affirmed that Sunday’s massive protests across Cuba were aimed at “shattering the unity of our people.”

Thousands of Cubans took to the streets this Sunday to protest the government, shouting “freedom!” in an unprecedented day that resulted in dozens of arrests and clashes.

The president underlined that his presence on television this morning was an initiative thought for days “to inform the population “about the situation in the country, which is going through the worst moment of the pandemic and a serious economic crisis.

Several ministers, including Energy, appeared alongside Díaz-Canel on the television show, in which they answered questions from a group of state media journalists.

power outages

The first question pointed to the long “power cuts”, one of the causes that motivated the start of the protests on Sunday. Inside Cuba, these blackouts have continued in recent weeks amid the sweltering summer heat.

The President and the Chief Energy Officer attributed the blackouts to the breakdowns of the island’s main thermoelectric power plants and increased energy demand, to ensure thereafter that the stability of the service will be restored as of Tuesday.

Fourth Generation War

For his part, Rogelio Polanco, member of the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee and head of the Ideological Department, said that they lived on the island. “What is called the fourth generation war.” Similar to what has been experienced in Venezuela, “where a very intense level has been reached” in some of the demonstrations against the government.

“This is part of a manual that has been meticulously applied in several countries, to achieve what has been called regime change. There is no such technology or strategy that can go against the will of the people. Venezuela has shown that it is possible to defeat it, as Cuba is doing, ”Polanco said.

“We did not call the people to confront the people”

“We did not call on the people to confront the people, but to defend their rights”, later supported Díaz-Canel, who attempted to demonstrate the functioning of the “ideological and violent machine” that caused the unrest during the protests.

The president also denounced that We tried to impose through the press the idea that the people were summoned to confront the people, when, according to the official, “the people have been called to defend their rights”.

“Who bothers? In the USA ? Why don’t they see the virtues of a system that works for everyone, and that has results in the areas of health, education, social security, citizen peace? Unfortunately, they encourage maneuvers that result in vandalism and bring the ranks closer together, they unite us more, they clarify the real intentions, and they give birth to real defensive positions, because it is not possible to obtain an obligation. defense response to the Revolution, ”said Díaz Canel.