Thousands march in anti-government protests in Cuba


Thousands of demonstrators marched in cities across Cuba on Sunday, protesting food and medicine shortages, blackouts, and the surge in coronavirus cases.
Cuba is in the midst of an economic crisis, and these anti-government protests are the largest in decades. In Havana, protesters gathered on the Malecon promenade, shouting "Freedom!" "Enough!" and "Unite!" As they marched by buildings, residents came out onto their balconies and clapped and cheered. After several hours, some demonstrators began throwing cobblestones at police officers, and that is when authorities began arresting people. One protester told The Associated Press he was participating because he was "fed up with the queues, the shortages."
In response to the protests, President Miguel Díaz-Canel accused the "Cuban-American mafia" of "creating a whole campaign" and encouraging "demonstrations across the country." U.S. officials are watching the situation closely, with Julie Chung, acting assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, praising the demonstrators on Twitter, saying they were exercising their right "to peaceful assembly to express concern about rising COVID cases/deaths & medicine shortages. We commend the numerous efforts of the Cuban people mobilizing donations to help neighbors in need."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
How Zohran Mamdani's NYC mayoral run will change the Democratic Party
Talking Points The candidate poses a challenge to the party's 'dinosaur wing'
-
Book reviews: '1861: The Lost Peace' and 'Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers'
Feature How America tried to avoid the Civil War and the link between lead pollution and serial killers
-
Brian Wilson: the troubled genius who powered the Beach Boys
Feature The musical giant passed away at 82
-
Supreme Court clears third-country deportations
Speed Read The court allowed Trump to temporarily resume deporting migrants to countries they aren't from
-
'No Kings': A turning point for the resistance?
Feature Millions of Americans nationwide took to the streets to protest against the Trump administration
-
Trump: Making the military into a 'partisan militia'?
Feature Donald Trump held a military parade just days after sending troops to stop protests in Los Angeles
-
Judges order release of 2 high-profile migrants
Speed Read Kilmar Ábrego García is back in the US and Mahmoud Khalil is allowed to go home — for now
-
US assessing bomb damage to Iran nuclear sites
Speed Read Trump claims this weekend's US bombing obliterated Tehran's nuclear program, while JD Vance insists the US is 'not at war with Iran'
-
Trump's LA deployment in limbo after court rulings
Speed Read Judge Breyer ruled that Trump's National Guard deployment to Los Angeles was an 'illegal' overreach. But a federal appellate court halted the ruling.
-
Marines, National Guard in LA can detain Americans
speed read The troops have been authorized to detain anyone who interferes with immigration raids
-
Youth Demand promises a 'revolution'
The Explainer New protest group picks up Just Stop Oil's mantle and vows to 'build a movement that is going to take control of the British state'