The Cuban people continue to take to the streets and protest for freedom and human rights, despite the communist dictatorship’s violent repression.
Cuban Observatory of Conflicts documents 392 public protests in May
The Cuban Observatory of Conflicts (OCC) documented 392 public protests on the island during the month of May, a number that exceeds by 22 the 370 demonstrations registered in April.
According to the latest report from the independent organization published this Friday, June 2nd, the protests, many of them motivated by the worsening food insecurity, took place in the country’s 15 provinces.
The most active province was Havana with 162 protests, followed by Holguín with 31, and Guantánamo and Santiago de Cuba, both with 20, as stated in the document.
Protests related to civil and political rights (CPR) included solo demonstrations on the streets demanding the freedom of political prisoners, and other demands. Also, banners with anti-government slogans hung on houses or inserted by hackers into official websites, direct questioning of the functionality of the system, and the government’s incapacity and excuses.
Meanwhile, protests related to economic and social rights (ESR) focused mainly on the exacerbation of the two crises that currently affect the population the most: high prices and the scarcity and poor quality of food, as well as the dysfunctional public healthcare system.
The NGO gives special mention to the demonstrations that took place on May 6th in Caimanera, Guantánamo province, where hundreds of Guantánamo residents took to the streets over food shortages and the precarious condition of the healthcare system.
“Repression did not take long: a detachment of the Special Brigade of the Ministry of the Interior, known as the Black Berets, mercilessly charged against the protesters with batons. Relatives of the first five detainees, Yandris Pelier Matos, the brothers Felipe Correa Martínez and Luis Miguel Alarcón Martínez, and the brothers Rodi and Daniel Álvarez González, reported the brutality of the repression to Yeris Curbelo Aguilera, a journalist from the independent group Palenque Visión. Alarcón Martínez received a kick to the head, his brother Felipe Octavio was beaten all over when he tried to help Luis Miguel, and their sister, Caridad Alarcón Martínez, was slapped. Meanwhile, Pelier Matos, another detainee, had his head split open with baton blows,” recalls the OCC.