Cubans rally in support of the Revolution, President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez speaks and statements of solidarity come in from around the world.
Cubans demonstrate in support of the revolution, July 11 -- Image via screen capture
The western and imperialist media is trumpeting the news that possibly as many as a few thousand people demonstrated in several different cities in Cuba on Sunday. With conditions in the island socialist country having been severely strained by the ongoing illegal and cruel US blockade, this is getting intense, immediate, exaggerated and predictable media attention about how it is "unprecedented", a real threat to the popular government, etc,
If one ever wanted to watch a textbook example of the way the imperialist and western media acts as a propaganda tool for imperialist and anti-socialist goals, it is happening now.
Over the last couple of years far more massive protests in Chile, Colombia, France, Haiti and the United States have been met with immense, intense, prolonged state violence with many thousands of people killed, blinded and brutalized by agents of the state. While the uprisings against racism and police violence in the United States could not be totally ignored, the North American media did its best to give scant coverage to what was happening in the other four countries and still is in the case of Colombia.
After the protests, also largely unreported, thousands of Cubans took to the streets when President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez issued a call to defend the revolution.
In his speech Diaz-Canel noted the staggering hypocrisy of the US and of American backers of the blockade:
In a very cowardly, subtle and opportunistic and perverse way, from the most complicated situations that we have had in provinces such as Matanzas and Ciego de Ávila, those who have always approved the blockade and who serve as mercenaries of the Yankee blockade on the streets, begin to appear with doctrines of humanitarian aid and a “humanitarian corridor.” We all know where they come from.
They do this to strengthen the claim that the Cuban government is not capable of getting out of this situation, as if they were so interested in solving the health problems of our people.
If you want to have a real gesture of support with Cuba, if you want to be concerned about the people, lift the blockade and we will see how we engage. Why don’t they do it? Why don’t they have the courage to lift the blockade? What legal and moral foundation do they have to support a foreign government that applies this policy to a small country in the midst of such an adverse situation.
Isn’t that genocide, isn’t that a crime against humanity? They make claims that we are a dictatorship. What a strange dictatorship it is that cares about giving its entire population health care, that seeks wellbeing for all, that in the midst of these situations is capable of having programs and public policies based on everyone. A dictatorship that is aspiring to vaccinate everyone with a Cuban vaccine, because we knew that no one was going to sell us vaccines and we had no money to go to the international market to buy vaccines.
Now they shout that we are murderers. Where are the murdered in Cuba? Where are the disappeared?
Why were the other countries that have suffered these events of pandemic peaks not attacked in the press? Why were they not given the solution of humanitarian intervention? They were not attacked with discrediting campaigns that they have wanted to launch against us.
Life, history and facts show what is behind all this: It is to suffocate and end the Revolution and for that they are trying to discourage our people by misleading them.
You can read the full speech at: Cuban President Díaz-Canel: Revolutionaries to the Streets!
Cubans responded:
International statements of solidarity with Cuba came in from around the world:
The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued a statement that read in part:
The hypocrisy and provocation of the imperialists cannot be concealed. The shortages in Cuba are due to the 60-year inhuman economic blockade by the USA and the 242 additional measures taken by the Trump administration against Cuba, which the Biden administration continues to implement. The house of cards promoted by various bourgeois and opportunist forces internationally and in our country such as SYRIZA, MeRA-25, etc, saying that the election of Biden would allegedly mean a progressive shift in the US foreign policy, has collapsed.
The KKE unequivocally condemns the provocative imperialist acts aiming to overthrow the Cuban people’s gains and power. It condemns all plans for any kind of imperialist intervention in Cuba using the pretext of human rights. The USA, NATO, the EU have committed the most horrific imperialist crimes in Yugoslavia, Libya, etc, under this very pretext.
It is hypocrisy for them to talk about democratic rights while they daily trample on these rights in their own countries!
The Biden Administration recently authorised more funds to continue the attacks on the Cuban people. The US President, despite his electoral promises, hasn’t eliminated any of the 243 executive orders made by Trump. The most barbaric of these is the inclusion of Cuba on the unilateral US list of countries sponsors of terrorism.
This means that Cuba cannot purchase any goods on international markets or have access to financial loans as the US controls the economic and financial systems. The Helms-Burton Act Title III also punishes third countries from trading with Cuba.
We have great optimism in the Cuban revolutionary spirit to persist even during these toughest of times no matter how unjust, but we say loudly there is no reason why a people should be asked to endure such an injustice.
Cuba has shown incredible resilience in the face of six decades of economic warfare by the US government in the form of a blockade intended to strangle the economy and create hunger and hardship in an attempt to destabilise the country.
The Cuba Solidarity Campaign opposes any calls for foreign intervention coming from those in the US who seek to exploit the current difficulties and provoke unrest. The solution to the challenges Cuba faces must be resolved by the people of Cuba and we support the efforts that the Cuban people and their government are making to fight the pandemic in the face of ongoing sanctions and provocations from the US.
On Sunday 11 July, some street protests took place against the scarcity of food, medicines and power supplies. The vast majority of these protesters have genuine concerns regarding these shortages. President Miguel Díaz-Canel travelled to San Antonio de los Baños, site of the original demonstration, and spoke to people about their grievances.
Some groups are seeking to exploit and provoke this difficult situation. They called for people to protest in other locations, resulting in protests in some towns and cities. In response, thousands of Cubans supporting the government have taken to the streets across the island in counter-demonstrations against US interference.
Now right-wing, pro-blockade, and regime-change politicians and groups in the US are also seeking to manipulate the situation. They have called for a so-called “humanitarian corridor” (a pretext for US intervention) to be set up. Anyone genuinely interested in helping the Cuban people at this time should instead be calling for the US government to ease the crippling sanctions.
The calls for US aid delivered through a US-imposed “humanitarian corridor” are disingenuous and fraudulent. These are the same people who hypocritically call for humanitarian intervention while supporting blockade policies which have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicines.
CSC condemns those in the US and internationally who are cynically using the situation to destabilise Cuba, and supports Cuba’s right to self-determination.