Biden Supports Cuban Protests As Island President Blames “Imperialist” Provocations | Connect FM | Local news radio

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(WASHINGTON) – President Joe Biden on Monday released a statement of solidarity with the thousands of Cubans who demonstrated this weekend against shortages and rising prices of food and medicine amid the coronavirus pandemic in what ‘one calls an unprecedented rejection of the government of the island nation.

Cuba’s communist leadership has already denounced the protests as a “systemic provocation” by Cuban dissidents and the US government, encouraged its supporters to counter protests and sent its armed forces to the streets, risking clashes with protesters.

“We stand by the Cuban people and their clear call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and the decades of repression and economic suffering to which it has been subjected by the authoritarian regime in Cuba,” he said. Biden said in a statement Monday.

“The Cuban people courageously claim their fundamental and universal rights. These rights, including the right to demonstrate peacefully and the right to freely determine their own future, must be respected. The United States calls on the Cuban regime to listen to its people and meet their needs at this vital time rather than getting rich, ”he said.

Sunday’s protests in several towns on the island are among the largest anti-government protests in Cuban recent history, and Biden had been called upon to show his support for the protests.

While he helped the Obama administration ease tensions with Cuba and reopen trade and travel, Biden maintained most of former President Donald Trump’s sanctions and restrictions on close neighbor and adversary. long-standing United States.

The administration says it is still reviewing its Cuban policies, angering progressives in the Democratic Party, but with these almost unprecedented protests, it may have to act faster than it hoped.

So far, the administration has expressed support for the right of the Cuban people to assemble peacefully and condemned all violence. Ahead of Biden’s statement, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Julie Chung and Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan expressed this sentiment.

Cuban President Miguel Daz-Canel acknowledged public grievances over power cuts and shortages of food and medicine during a televised speech on Monday, but blamed the island nation’s problems on the US embargo of long-standing and accused the US “imperialists” of fueling tensions on social media.

“Yesterday Cuba had the most heroic day. Thousands of patriots defend the Revolution, ”he said on state television, referring to pro-government protests in Havana later Sunday.

“We don’t want to hurt our beloved people,” added Daz-Canel, who assumed the presidency in 2019 and became the first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party in April, officially succeeding Ral Castro.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodrguez Parrilla made even more scathing remarks on Monday, countering Sullivan and Chung’s statements of support for the protests by saying the White House had “no political or moral authority to talk about Cuba.”

“His government has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to promote subversion in our country and is implementing a genocidal blockade, which is the main cause of economic shortages,” he tweeted, referring directly to the statement by Sullivan.

Cuba is going through its worst economic crisis in decades, as its economy contracted by double digits last year. But with the economic crisis, the country faces another deadly wave of COVID-19.

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