Government Strikes back at Protestors in Cuba

    Miguel Diaz-Canel took office as President of the Republic of Cuba on October 10th, 2019, as the country's first president since the Cuban Revolution and rule of the Castro brothers. However, Diaz-Canel is part of a continuation of the Communist Party of Cuba's rule and control over government and society in Cuba but is not looked with favor on by many of the country's citizens. A few weeks ago, on July 11th, this disapproval came together in the form of protests against the government originally sparked by a lackluster COVID-19 relief support effort.

Demonstrators gather to call out a
negligent Cuban government

    Thousands of Cubans took to the streets to peacefully protest the government's "dictator-like" hold over the country, as they chanted, sang, and marched through the streets calling for change within the government. However, while the number of people showing anger and disappointment with their government was amazing, the authorities' response to the protests have been obscene. Tons of violence by authorities was used to respond to peaceful protests, with the police even going on to have targeted, detained, and arrested hundreds if not thousands of demonstrators, and have struck true fear into the hearts of many who now say they no longer feel safe leaving their homes.

    The government and authority's response to the protests has been so drastic that President Biden and the United States were recently forced to step in, issuing new sanctions against Cuban leaders and the police force for their actions. I agree with President Biden as he identifies Cuba's actions as a total breach of human rights and claims their trials were total miscarriages of justice. As the United States gets more involved in Cuba's situation,  it appears to be becoming another clash between Capitalism and Communism as the United States took the opportunity to call the situation another failure of Communism in a dispute that goes back to the Cold War. In this case, there shouldn't be a battle between a country's citizens and its authorities, and the fear currently instilled in the Cuban people is only a path for more future conflict.

Authorities violently arrest
anti-government protestor

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/28/world/americas/cuba-protests-crackdown-arrests.html

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/29/americas/cuba-protests-mass-trials-cmd-intl/index.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/us-announces-cuba-sanctions-biden-meets-cuban-american-leaders-rcna1567