Repression in Cuba: The dictatorship arrested at least five protesters after protests in Caimanera and cut off the internet

On Saturday night, the Cuban people spontaneously mobilized again to demonstrate against the Castro regime. Hundreds of people took to the streets in the municipality of Caimanera in the eastern territory of Guantanamo. once again, The authorities responded with repression by the security forces, who arrested at least five people. Later, this Sunday, the dictatorship also cut off internet access across the island.

Activist and independent journalist Lyris Curbelo Aguilerawho is based in Caimanera, confirmed this Sunday to the agency EFE Until now There are at least five people arrestedA number that coincides with the number provided by other activists. At the moment, the Castro authorities have not provided information in this regard.

According to Curbelo Aguilera, Two young men – both arrested, according to their testimony – began protesting Saturday afternoon in front of the headquarters of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC, the only legal one). In that city of about 10,000 inhabitants, next to the United States Naval Base located in Guantanamo Bay. Afterwards, the couple returned to their neighborhood and were joined in a peaceful protest by neighbors.

In one of the photos that appeared to circulate on social media about these events, a man is shown surrounded by several people saying: We want food, we don’t want more speeches. There is no embargo (US economic embargo) nothing.”While shouts of “freedom” are heard.

“So far (…) the Caimanera continues to be militarized with repressive forces (members of the Special National Brigade of the Ministry of the Interior, known as the Black Berets) and patrol cars to intimidate the population and keep them in a state of extreme panic and fear ( Do not go out into the streets,” he said. EFE Curbelo Aguilera.

Netblocks international internet monitoring platform, and others like Cloudflare Radar, They confirmed the downfall of the internet across the country shortly after the protests were recorded.

Service was intermittently restored after about three hours. State TV channel Karibi confirmed the collapse of the networks, without providing further details.

The non-governmental organization Amnesty International attributed the internet shutdown to political reasons. “(President) Diaz-Canel and his government should not cut off communications and the Internet to avoid information about the protests.”on Twitter.

In this regard, as soon as the Internet was restored, the official newspaper of the province, Venceremos, described what happened as “an act of social indiscipline that requires the presence of agents of public order, when many citizens, drunk, chanted in the street phrases against the Cuban social process and the dissatisfaction that It must be addressed.”

In this same sense, Lazaro Castellanos MatosA member of the municipal office of the Palestinian Communist Party in Caimanera confirmed that the march was launched by “three citizens” who were “under the influence of alcohol”, a narrative that activists dismissed as false.

Various NGOs, such as Amnesty International, as well as dissidents inside and outside the island have also shared videos showing men in olive green uniforms confronting protesters.

The Observatory of Cuban Conflict (OCC), which prepares monthly reports on the conflict on the island, last April recorded 370 public protests related to economic and social rights (216), civil and political rights (154) and recent fuel shortages. weeks.

The serious economic crisis the country is suffering from – and its management by the government – It has generated increasing social unrest In a community that has suffered for more than two years from general shortages of food, medicine and fuelstrong inflation and partial dollarization.

On the same Saturday, the Guantanamo Electric Company reported a power outage that affected practically the entire province due to a fault.

The power outage generated social discontent and spawned many spontaneous protests, among them the protests of July 11, 2021, the largest in decades.

With information from EFE

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