South Florida residents have come out en masse this week to show solidarity with demonstrations in Cuba, in which protesters voiced grievances over the lack of basic goods such as food, medicine, internet access and COVID-19 vaccines.
And, some signs of potential progress are beginning to show.
The Cuba Ministry of Higher Education said Cuba will allow passengers flying to the island to bring unlimited food, hygiene and medicine products with no import fees starting Monday through Dec. 31, The Miami Herald reported.
Some Cubans are also demanding a change from Cuba’s Communist government, which has ruled the island for decades.
On Thursday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, for the first time, offered some self-criticism while saying that government shortcomings in handling shortages and other problems played a role in this week’s protests.
Until now, the Cuban government had only blamed social media and the U.S. government for the weekend protests, which were the biggest seen in Cuba since a quarter century ago, when then-President Fidel Castro personally went into the streets to calm crowds of thousands furious over dire shortages following the collapse of the Soviet Union and its economic subsidies for the island.
Shortly before the president’s remarks, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero announced some measures such as customs flexibility for Cuban citizens who go on foreign trips to bring home toiletries, food and medicines, which are among the most hard to find items in Cuba.
Marrero also said that work is being done to improve the stability of the national electricity system and that officials will seek to improve the supply of medicines, many of which are produced on the island but whose inputs must be imported.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Gov. Ron DeSantis demanded that Biden act immediately to restore internet access, along with other action to squeeze the authoritarian, communist regime that runs Cuba.
“The Cuban people have lost their ability to communicate with one another, and many Floridians born in Cuba have no information on the safety of their loved ones,” DeSantis, in part, wrote in a letter to the president. “Equally as important, the world has also lost the ability to see what is happening on the ground as the Cuban people rise in support of freedom.”
DeSantis said the U.S. must be able to send information to Cubans and receive information from them.
Biden said at a news press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Washington that he could consider multiple ways to help the Cuban people, only if he could “guarantee that they would not be taken advantage of by the government.” He said sending COVID-19 vaccines could be an option if an international agency would administer them and ensure access for the average citizen.
Sending remittances to Cuba is not something Biden said he is considering now because it is “highly likely that the regime would confiscate those remittances or big chunks of it.”
Meanwhile, Economy Minister Alejandro Gil announced the directors of state-owned enterprises will be allowed to determine salaries beyond the regulations. He also said that in the coming weeks long-promised rules will be instituted for small- and medium-size enterprises to be formed, a step once unthinkable under the communist government.
Cuba is suffering its worst crisis in years from a combination of the coronavirus pandemic that has paralyzed its economy, including the vital tourism industry, inefficiencies in the state-run economy and the tightening of U.S. sanctions on the island. The administration of President Donald Trump imposed more than 200 measures against the island in four years.
Díaz-Canel said that this “complex situation” was taken advantage of “by those who do not really want the Cuban revolution to develop or a civilized relationship with respect with the United States.”
Continued protests, marches in South Florida
Roughly 100 people rallied at City Hall in Miami on Thursday, meeting Miami Mayor Francis Suarez outside the building, WTVJ-Ch. 6 reported. The protesters wanted city officials to take action in aiding Cubans, and some met with Suarez privately, the TV station reported.
“There are things we can do and unfortunately cannot do,” said Suarez, according to NBC 6. “We are not an agency of foreign policy. We don’t have tanks, we don’t have bombs, we don’t have planes. We don’t have any of those things. What we can do is advocate and what we need to do is talk to each other, not at each other.”
Shortly before 6 p.m. Thursday, a sea of #SOSCuba protesters gathered in Hialeah and marched along West 49th Street between Eighth and West 20th streets with Hialeah police escorting them, according to video posted to Twitter by Total Traffic and Weather Network in Miami. The crowd of hundreds appeared to stretch along multiple city blocks near the Palmetto Expressway.
Huge crowds could be seen waving Cuban flags and cheering during a mini-concert on Wednesday in Miami featuring local Cuban-American artists. The event was put on by the City of Miami to show support to the people in Cuba who are protesting for freedom.
Many supporters have been using the hashtag #SOSCuba on Twitter.
“Think about the statement, ‘SOS Cuba,’ ” West Palm Beach event organizer Rick Gonzalez told WPEC-Ch. 12. ” ‘SOS,’ what does that stand for? SOS was always about, we need help. They’re calling the world to come and help. The time to help is now.”
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
