MIAMI, United States. – The NGO Justicia 11J reported this Monday which has registered at least 28 minor protests in seven provinces of Cuba during the last three days, since the total blackout that affected the country on Friday, October 18. The majority of these demonstrations, a total of 21, occurred in Havana.
According to the Justice 11J count, in addition to the protests in the capital, seven more were registered in the provinces of Mayabeque, Artemisa, Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba. To date, the organization has no record of arrests related to these events.
Most of the demonstrations were peaceful: 25 banging of pots and pans, a protest in front of a government institution and a street closure. However, three incidents with property damage and a confrontation with the authorities were reported, as detailed by the NGO in a thread published on the social network X.
Justicia 11J also denounced “the repression of the authorities” during the protest in front of the headquarters of the Municipal Government of Manicaragua, province of Villa Clara. “We make a new call to the international community to timely follow up on the development of protests on the island, as well as the different forms of repression by the authorities, to stop citizen complaints,” the organization said.
He also added that he fears “the beginning of a new wave of arbitrary arrests.”
According to the EFE news agency, since Friday there has been an increase in police presence in Havana, with agents located at the main intersections of the city and patrols patrolling the streets.
Just this Sunday, the Cuban ruler, Miguel Díaz-Canel, threatened to citizens who protest in the midst of the energy crisis that the country is going through and which worsened last Friday with the “total disconnection” of the National Electroenergy System (SEN).
In the video of a meeting held this Sunday, which was released by the Presidency’s office, Díaz-Canel assured that his government was not going to accept or allow “anyone to act causing vandalism and much less altering the citizen tranquility of our people.” ”.
“That is a conviction and that is a principle of our Revolution,” concluded the ruler, whose “battle array” during the demonstrations of July 11, 2021 It has transcended as a call for civil war between Cubans.
The ruler also assured that there was “all the willingness and all the capacity and all the deployment and scope of the systems” contemplated by the regime “to respond (…) to any concern, as long as it is done in a civilized, organized manner. and in a disciplined manner.”
Immediately, Díaz-Canel’s statements caused a wave of indignation on social networks. The user Gєl remembered that “protest is a right” and addressed Díaz-Canel directly: “What more are you going to ask of the Cuban people? Three days of blackout, no food, no water, no gas and you can’t even complain, really?
“cowardly tyrant”, said the Cuban-American doctor Carlos H. Recio to Díaz-Canel. “You threaten a people without electricity, without food, without medicine, without transportation, in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis after 65 years of absolute power and having destroyed the nation. Criminals against humanity,” he concluded.
