MIAMI, United States. – Nine months after popular uprising of July 11, 2021 (11J)“the cries of ‘Liberty’ do not go out in Cuba”, as indicated in your monthly report the Cuban Conflict Observatory (OCC), which counted 185 protests on the island in May.
Among the protests in May, located in the 15 provinces and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud, those motivated by economic and social rights predominated for the first time (108, 58%) while 77 (42%) focused on political rights and civilians.
The OCC attributes the 37% decrease in protests in relation to the previous month, when there were 293, to four factors: the entry into force of the new Penal Code with a more severe penalization of crimes and the expansion of the use of the death penalty. death; the reduction of prison sentences for some 11J protesters, which could have created positive expectations among relatives and sympathizers of those who are still awaiting sentencing; the mass exodus, which is already comparable to that of Mariel in 1980; and the relaxation of sanctions by the Biden administration, which among some renews hopes such as that American tourism will resume.
“But the causes of unrest and protests continue to worsen in everyday life,” says the OCC report. “In addition to the demonstrations against product shortages, inflation and the collapse of the health system, there were 28 protests caused by electricity blackouts, for a total of 105, compared to 79 in April.”
May 11-22
Among the outstanding events of the period, the cries of “Libertad” chanted for several minutes in the Sports City Coliseum, during a concert by singer-songwriter Carlos Varela, revealed the mirage of supposed “governance” that was intended to be exhibited with the parade of the 1st. of May.
Likewise, in the last month, new forms of protest continued to be developed that give greater security to those who carry them out, such as the so-called “Mouth Protest”, in which videos with close-ups of mouths are filmed and disseminated (to make identification difficult). criticizing the government.
There were also manifestations of discontent that entail greater audacity and risk, such as stoning the windows of dollarized corporations and to hack official sites to leave subversive messages on them.
On the other hand, “social tension continues to increase within a cauldron of repression and degradation of daily existence that can explode as unexpectedly as it did on July 11, 2021. The main cause of ungovernability ―the obsolete governance regime that internally blocks the productive forces without any sign that a systemic economic reform is coming―, remains unchanged”, says the OCC.
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