Díaz-Canel calls on his followers to take to the streets to "defend the revolution" in response to the protests

July 11, 2021

Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel appeared on Cuban television this Sunday to call on the population to take to the streets to defend the revolution in the face of protests that have occurred in recent hours.

"We call on all revolutionaries to take to the streets to defend the revolution everywhere", Díaz-Canel declared in his statement, broadcast starting at 4:00 p.m. local time. "We are not going to surrender the sovereignty of our Homeland", he stressed.

The Cuban leader emphasized that he had already warned of "the complexities of the current times". "I remind you that more than a year and a half ago when the second half of 2019 was beginning we had to explain that we were heading into a difficult situation", he said, while holding the United States Government responsible for the situation, "headed by the (Donald) Trump administration".

Thus, he referred to the "intensification of the blockade (...) with the objective of suffocating our economy and causing the longed-for massive social outbreak".

Díaz-Canel referred to "actions of political destabilization" against Cuba carried out by the United States and which would have intensified particularly during the pandemic.

There are two specific problems to which the Cuban president referred: the energy crisis, which directly impacts the electricity service in homes, and the issue of medicines, in a scenario in which the number of sick people has increased and therefore medicine consumption. "We will have to move forward with the experience of home-based care due to the current situation with COVID-19", he announced.

Díaz-Canel openly referred to what happened in San Antonio de los Baños, where "a group of people gathered in one of the most central parks to protest". "Even revolutionary people joined in who may be confused by the misinformation that exists on social networks", he explained.

Opposition media outlets like Martí Noticias, based in Miami, have reported a "popular uprising" in which "thousands of Cubans took to the streets" to protest against the current situation and publish social media videos of demonstrations on the Malecón in Havana, Santiago, Holguín, Cárdenas and also in locations abroad, such as Puerta del Sol in Madrid.