14ymedio, Havana, 11 July 20210 – In a Sunday afternoon address, Cuba president Díaz-Canel called for civil war on the island. In his speech he called on the communists to take to the streets, starting now and in the coming days.
“We will be in the streets fighting,” threatened the president, in response to protests against the dictatorship taking place throughout Cuba.
In his speech, Díaz-Canel fundamentally blamed the crisis the country is experiencing on the United States sanctions against the island. After spending several minutes on this theme, the president spoke about the events of this Sunday in several parts of the country and also referred to his trip to San Antonio de los Baños.
With shouts of “Freedom,” “Down with communism,” “Homeland and life,” “We want the vaccine” and “Díaz-Canel singao [motherfucker],” thousands of Cubans came out to protest in the streets of San Antonio de los Baños, in the province Artemisa, this Sunday in the midst of the severe crisis in the country due to the pandemic and the shortage of basic products.
In a live broadcast on Facebook, residents can be seen marching through several central streets of that city, vehemently shouting “We are not afraid,” “We want freedom,” “Somos más [There are more of us],” and “Down with the dictatorship,” while listening to several protesters say that the people are tired. The video shows several State Security agents watching the protest, while people comment, “They are scared.”
The broadcast lasted a little more than 50 minutes, until it was suddenly interrupted, and in the images one can see people joining in as the crowd roamed the streets. Notably, among the participants of the protest, are many young people and also women and children.
In several phone calls to San Antonio de los Baños, 14ymedio confirmed that the internet service is currently interrupted. “There is no access to anything but people found out very quickly and right now they are trying to get to the place of the protest,” a resident explained to this newspaper.
“I am going to join but I do not want to take my mobile phone in case they arrest me, so they can’t take it from me,” adds the woman who explains being in “a desperate situation with this pandemic, quarantine and lack of food. We are riding over Niagara Falls on a bicycle.”
Since the San Antonio protest became known, the streets of Cuba have become abuzz with people. In every mass gathering, as reported in various provinces such as Artemisa, Matanzas, Camagüey, Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos and Havana, cries of “Down with the dictatorship” were heard.
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