With a strong police presence in the streets and without internet or information on detainees, some Cubans are going back to their daily routine

Number of detainees in Sunday protests in Cuba remains uncertain, while the regime adopts the first emergency measures to face the serious crisis which mobilized thousands of citizens to demonstrate in the streets.

Although regime authorities have confirmed that there were people arrested for their participation in the protests and riots that took place in different parts of Cuban geography on Sunday and, to a lesser extent, on Monday, They have not yet specified figures on the number of people deprived of their liberty.

Some international organizations and activists have posted lists on social networks that quantify the detainees by the hundreds events of recent days on the island, where no new incidents have been reported but a visible police presence is maintained in public spaces.

Meanwhile, in the countryside, the daily routine continues its course, people go to work, they keep queuing for long hours in stores to buy food and they are still waiting for the Internet to be restored on their cell phones.

This Thursday, most social networks and messaging platforms remained blocked in the mobile data service in Cuba, nearly five days after the unprecedented protests in which thousands of Cubans protested against the shortages of food, medicine and annoying “power cuts” lasting several hours.

Until now, access to the network has only been possible in public parks that offer wireless connection via Wi-Fi or via services Bovine–hearth Yes ADSL at home, a service that they still can’t afford most Cubans due to its high cost.

Authorities shut down internet to prevent networks from helping repeat incidents that in some places they turned violent when confronted by demonstrators and supporters of the regime.

Some young people even called on ingenious tricks to regain access to the network of networks and have used platforms such as VPN to activate their mobile devices equipped with 3G and 4G technology.

Currently connecting to the internet is an escape for the population in the midst of the economic crisis and the containment due to the pandemic, and it is also main means by which the population of the island communicates with their relatives abroad.

International organizations and some governments and leaders condemned the Cuban regime for this blackout. On this subject, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, assured this Thursday that he was study whether his government has “the technological capacity to restore” access to mobile internet in Cuba.

Exceptional measure

The dissatisfaction expressed to the regime by the demonstrators in front of the commodity shortage led to the approval of a measure that, from next Monday, will allow travelers to arrive in Cuba Bring your luggage – without limitations or customs fees – cleaning products, food and medicine.

To this end, the regime indicated that the provision “exceptional“In effect perhaps until the end of this year, it will remove restrictions that until now established a series of points and weight limits against which tariffs on excess items imported by travelers are measured.

It remains to be seen whether the new rule will be effective in the short term in alleviating the suffering suffered by the population, since Due to the pandemic, international flights have been reduced to a minimum for months, especially those from neighboring countries with a high Cuban migratory presence like the United States, Mexico and Panama.

Additionally, Biden ruled out on Thursday that for now it would make it easier to ship remittances on the island which was interrupted by his predecessor, Donald Trump, a measure that has also made life difficult for Cubans who receive help from their relatives in other countries and in particular from the United States.

The left tightens ranks with Havana

While a large part of the international community calls on the Cuban regime to release detainees and fully restore Internet access, several former leaders of the Latin American left approached Havana during a virtual meeting.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodriguez, held a teleconference during which, among others, the former presidents Evo Morales (Bolivia), Dilma Rousseff (Brazil) and Ernesto Samper (Colombia), Mexico’s Under-Secretary for External Relations, Maximiliano Reyes; and the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Barcenas.

Before them, Rodríguez reiterated the government’s thesis that Sunday’s protests were generated by an operation US “Politics-Media”.

(By Raquel Martori – EFE)

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