Cuban President says government is responsible for protests – CBS17.com

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Posted: Jul 14, 2021 / 10:24 PM EDT / Updated: Jul 14, 2021 / 10:24 PM EDT

Police stand guard near the National Capitol in Havana, Cuba on Wednesday, July 14, 2021, days after the protests. Protesters on Sunday voiced grievances over shortages of goods, rising prices and power cuts, and some called for a change of government. (AP Photo / Eliana Aponte)

HAVANA (AP) Cuban President Miguel Daz-Canel on Wednesday acknowledged the shortcomings in his government’s handling of shortages and the neglect of certain sectors, but urged Cubans not to act with hatred in reference to violence during recent street protests.

Until now, the Cuban government had only blamed social media and the US government for the weekend protests, which were the largest in Cuba in a quarter of a century, when then-President Fidel Castro had personally taken to the streets to calm thousands of angry people. on the severe shortages following the collapse of the Soviet Union and its economic subsidies for the island.

In a nightly speech on state television, Daz-Canel for the first time criticized himself and admitted that state failures had played a role in protests against food shortages, rising prices and d other grievances.

We need to gain experience of disruption, ”he said. We must also do a critical analysis of our problems to act and overcome, and avoid their repetition.

During the protests, many Cubans expressed their anger at the long queues and shortages of food and medicine, as well as repeated power cuts. Some have called for a faster rate of vaccination against the coronavirus. But there were also calls for political change in a country ruled by the Communist Party for some six decades.

Police intervened and arrested dozens of protesters, sometimes violently, and the government accused protesters of looting and vandalizing shops. Smaller protests continued on Monday and authorities reported at least one death. No incidents were reported on Wednesday.

Our society is not a society that generates hatred and these people have acted with hatred, ”said Daz-Canel. “The feeling of the Cubans is a feeling of solidarity and these people have committed these armed acts, vandalism… crying out to death… planning to loot public places, to smash, to steal, to throw stones.

Cuba is suffering from its worst crisis in years because of a combination of the coronavirus pandemic that crippled its economy, including the vital tourism industry, inefficiencies in the state-run economy and tougher sanctions Americans on the island. President Donald Trump’s administration has imposed more than 200 measures against the island in four years.

Daz-Canel said this complex situation has been taken advantage of by those who don’t really want the Cuban revolution to develop or a respectful civilized relationship with the United States.

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