Best wishes to the people of Cuba-

[Trapper99]

Covid may have been the last straw for the Cuban people, but I can’t conclude from the videos I have seen the protest are about Covid. Shipping pallets of vaccines to them isn’t what they want, nor is a return to their pre-Covid standard. 
 

Godspeed to the citizens of Cuba. History has shown getting out from under Communism isn’t pretty.

[MrBirdman]

11 minutes ago, chris12381 said:

The Cuban government is without a doubt lying when they say there thave been no protests today.  There certainly have been.

 

There is definitely some confusion as to what’s been happening over the past 24 hours - most media outlets have focused on Sunday, and one said that they’ve mostly died down since. It’s unclear whether their source is the government or elsewhere. There are some truly independent reporters in Cuba but no idea how effectively they’ve been censored. Certainly they’ve been intimidated. 
 

My impression from contacts shared here is that there is still some protesting, with a lot of tension. 

Organizing becomes so important at this phase, and governments like Cuba have learned that shutting down online connectivity is their best defense against it. People will need to rely much more on old-fashioned organizing, if it’s possible. 

[Corylax18]

I just got off the phone with a friend in Havana. The protests have definitely continued today. Protestors and Police are still clashing. There seems to be less volume than there was yesterday, but its impossible to be sure right now. The flow of info into and within the country has crawled to a halt. 

If you have a friend in Cuba you have to CALL them. Whatsapp, the internet, most VPN services, and any other ways to communicate are shutdown. 

He had heard chatter/Rumors of something happening in Camaguey, but didn't have any more information than I had here. Definitely top up your friends mobile accounts if you can, it appears to be the only way they can communicate right now. 

[El Presidente]

I will ask the most exhuberant of members to be respectful of others.  Try and not assume you know how other members think or how their politics play.  Keep your hubris in check. 

[NSXCIGAR]

2 hours ago, chris12381 said:

The Cuban government is without a doubt lying

Any examples of the Cuban government telling the truth? I guess when they said Fidel had croaked... that's the only one I can think of.

[NW_Oregon]

2 hours ago, Corylax18 said:

He had heard chatter/Rumors of something happening in Camaguey, but didn't have any more information than I had here. Definitely top up your friends mobile accounts if you can, it appears to be the only way they can communicate right now. 

Saw a story that said the police stepped aside and allowed the protestors to march in Camaguey.

https://marketresearchtelecast.com/the-cuban-regime-police-decide-to-move-away-and-allow-the-passage-of-a-demonstration-in-camaguey/101924/

[Habana Mike]

3 hours ago, Corylax18 said:

I just got off the phone with a friend in Havana. The protests have definitely continued today. Protestors and Police are still clashing. There seems to be less volume than there was yesterday, but its impossible to be sure right now. The flow of info into and within the country has crawled to a halt. 

If you have a friend in Cuba you have to CALL them. Whatsapp, the internet, most VPN services, and any other ways to communicate are shutdown. 

He had heard chatter/Rumors of something happening in Camaguey, but didn't have any more information than I had here. Definitely top up your friends mobile accounts if you can, it appears to be the only way they can communicate right now. 

Tried calling my people. One line not on/out of service, the other nobody available...been since last Friday since any communication.

[chris12381]

2 hours ago, NW_Oregon said:

Saw a story that said the police stepped aside and allowed the protestors to march in Camaguey.

https://marketresearchtelecast.com/the-cuban-regime-police-decide-to-move-away-and-allow-the-passage-of-a-demonstration-in-camaguey/101924/

https://photos.app.goo.gl/TSEUjSnje5wdzGFm8

[Ryan]

6 hours ago, chris12381 said:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/TSEUjSnje5wdzGFm8

Thanks for that. Very interesting to see. I'm not sure what happens now though. If the police step aside everywhere and protestors take the streets, then what? People still have to eat and hospitals have to open.

I can almost hear the speech, "This imperialist-driven crowd is disrupting our food and medical supply"

Police forces around the world are changing tactic in the last few years to letting protesting crowds through, to where they want to go, knowing that that diffuses tension, then they chant for a while and go home. Having an immovable wall of riot police is what gets the first rocks thrown and next thing there's videos of civilians getting clattered by cops, escalating everything.

There was obviously some organisation through the internet for protests to start almost simultaneously in different cities. But I haven't heard of any leaders yet or any kind of plan.

 

 

[Nino]

1 minute ago, Ryan said:

I can almost hear the speech, "This imperialist-driven crowd is disrupting our food and medical supply"

 

Yes, you can hear it and you can read it - it's the Imperialists and the mercenaries and of course the devil USA that is to blame.

Problem is no-one believes that sh#t anymore.

From the BBC today :

Cuba protests: Frustration at government runs deep

By Pascal Fletcher  BBC Monitoring

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-57823130

Cuba's communist rulers and state-controlled media are alleging that anti-government protests that swept across the island on Sunday were "organised and financed" from the United States, and egged on by a "perverse" and co-ordinated communications campaign on social media.

"There was no social uprising," Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez was quoted by the Communist Party daily Granma as saying.

"There were riots, disorder, caused by a communications operation that has been prepared for some time, to which multi-million dollar resources have been destined: laboratories, technological platforms [backed] with funds of the United States government."

However, monitoring of state media websites prior to the protests shows that Cubans had been voicing deep frustration, despair and anger online long before they took to the streets in their thousands to complain about shortages of food and medicines, power and water interruptions and an apparently faltering government response to surging Covid-19 cases.

In fact, they had been venting these feelings precisely on official online pages in Cuba, particularly on the readers' comments section of the government news website Cubadebate.

This section, though undoubtedly controlled and monitored, has become something of a sounding-board of public opinion on the island in recent years.

As Covid-19 cases and deaths announced by health authorities rose sharply recently, Cubans posted hundreds of comments on the site, with some openly criticising the health authorities and the government.

"Let's leave pride aside, the health system is collapsed, it's the moment to ask for international help, for how long are people going to carry on dying, there are no resources [to fight] this resurgence [of Covid-19]," reader Padrino said.

Danilo wrote: "We need medicines of all kinds and urgently".

The comments will not have gone unnoticed by the ruling Communist Party, which has a dedicated polling unit to track public opinion. The government - for all its efforts to characterise the protests as a "communications operation" driven from the US - was well aware of the existing levels of frustration and anger among the population.

'We've been begging for months'

Some readers also berated authorities about living conditions, complaining about everything from power outages to the difficulties in obtaining food, with citizens often having to queue for hours at state shops to obtain supplies.

"Lord, without water, or electricity, or food, that's how we all are," Dra J wrote.

Reader Alheli took aim at the government's exhortations for the population to show "resistance": "So how long is this resistance planned for? What happens to those who can no longer resist?... We've been begging for months for a change of strategy towards the pandemic and they've told us that no, that everything was under control."

"This is worse every day, and why wouldn't it be, if the conditions are less favourable every day," a reader called China wrote. "How can you pretend to control the virus if we can't comply with the basic things like the hygiene measures?"

Many readers repeated complaints - long made by citizens during the pandemic - that the food shortages meant that most people had to spend long periods outside of their homes, in crowded queues, just to obtain basic necessities, and were thereby exposed to increased risks of infection.

"This isn't just indiscipline, this is out of control, we have to go out into the street to be able to eat, queuing up for three and four hours," Carmen wrote.

Many who posted comments were particularly incensed that the government had continued to allow thousands of Russian tourists weekly into the premier beach resort of Varadero, in Matanzas province. This province is now one of the worst Covid-19 hotspots on the island.

Reader Carlos directly upbraided President Miguel Díaz-Canel, writing: "Mr president, this situation in Matanzas is because of the Delta strain coming from Russia. What were you [the government] thinking when a few months ago you re-established the flights from Russia? Weren't you aware of the Covid situation in that country?"

After being posted, and seen by BBC Monitoring, this comment was later removed from the site.

Several readers, like Cuba's government, laid the blame for the crisis on US sanctions, which have contributed to the island's dire economic situation and shortages. Marcia said: "The only help that Cuba needs to ask for is for them [the US] to take away the blockade [sanctions]".

But there were many others too who no longer wanted to hear this argument.

"I just want to point out that the indiscipline and the lack of responsibility and oversight is not the fault of the blockade or the Yankees. It is ours alone," reader Rafael said.

[Nino]

14 hours ago, PigFish said:

Careful Nino... The truth about socialism can make you real unpopular on cigar forums!!! -LOL You must first rationalize every other form of political/economic system and prove that they are flawless. Then, but only then, can you talk socialism. -LOL 

Thanks for your updates and contributions. -R

Thanks Ray, much appreciated kind words @PigFish.

Guess that and my calling some dumbwits on a German forum "heartless selfish BS spreaders" for bitching about cigar production during the turmoil right now in Cuba makes me rightfully unpopular, but I can live with that.. 🙂

I can't stand tossers and wankers that after a 2 weeks All-Inc-Alc vacation in a Varadero ghetto, a "guided city tour" plus buying 3 fake Kochibas consider themselves experts on Cuba and its social wonders ...

 

[El Presidente]

Day 4 commences. 

clutch time. 

Things cannot return to the way they were. The geenie is out of the bottle. 

How will this play out? 

1. Overthrow by the people through sheer passion and weight of numbers. 
2. Military coup 
3. Govt stonewall with no compromises
4. Govt acknowledges part blame/empathy and anounces compromises (all about self preservation)
5. Any others?

 

The Govt is the military. One can assume their battle plan is to avoid point 1, play out point 3 ( a few days more)  while working on point 4 with an eye to buy time. Assuming point 1 looks to become increasingly likely, enact point 2 and have a different viersion of the same people come in like saviours under a revamped (but still controlled) system ....(think Vietnam/China).   

Plenty of room for some cuve balls?  

It indeed looks like clutch time today for the Cuban people. Perhaps the most important day in 62 years. I hope they take it with both hands.

A prayer for the safety of your family and friends. 

 

 

[Ryan]

Personally, and I'm probably wrong, I think that this one will fizzle. 

But I think it's very possible that some people with organisational and leadership skills are watching it as an opportunity for something more organised in the near future. How near that is, I don't know, months to years.

[El Presidente]

7 minutes ago, Ryan said:

Personally, and I'm probably wrong, I think that this one will fizzle. 

That would be gut wrenching for many. 

let's see where the momentum swings today. 

Mobile phone network is switched back on. 

 

 

[Nino]

35 minutes ago, Ryan said:

Personally, and I'm probably wrong, I think that this one will fizzle. 

 

Hate to admit it but I share your thought ...

Lots of anger but no rallying figure, no plan and no media support.

Point 3 followed by point 4 ...

[MrBirdman]

57 minutes ago, Ryan said:

I think it's very possible that some people with organisational and leadership skills are watching it as an opportunity for something more organised in the near future. How near that is, I don't know, months to years.

17 minutes ago, Nino said:

Lots of anger but no rallying figure, no plan and no media support.

Agreed. There does not seem to be any clear message on reforms. Ultimately one goal for liberating Cuba would have to be free and fair elections - right now there doesn’t seem to be any rallying point for reform.

But the hunger is there.

[ElJavi76]

You guys think this needs to be "organized" or have a central theme? You're kidding right? 

In case you guys missed it... the message is get these effin communists off our backs. They're hungry. They're sick. They're tired. Go to IG and tell me if you think these are so isolated. 

https://instagram.com/stories/cubanosdelmundo/2617091124540357699?utm_medium=share_sheet

I don't think anyone gives a $hit about free elections right now. 

In other news, I spoke to my aunt and she's OK. I texted Clavijo and he said they're OK but they things are "complicated". If you know Jorge, and some of you do, he's the consummate optimist. If he's saying it's complicated then it's probably getting real. 

Let's all hope for the least loss of life and for the Cuban people to go get the govt they want and deserve. #CubaLibre

[Nino]

If the regime keeps putting out this BS propaganda they might be digging their own grave and people will be even more angry ...

Díaz-Canel denies the repression of the protests in Cuba and describes those who participated as 'criminals'

"The enemy wants to complicate the Covid-19 situation and create unrest," he says.

DDC Havana 14 Jul 2021 - 14:34 CEST

https://diariodecuba.com/cuba/1626266073_32642.html

The ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel described the protests against his Government, which took place in dozens of cities and towns in Cuba, as "mounting" of social networks by order of the "enemy" to "complicate the situation of Covid-19" in the Island and provoke "social unrest" in another speech in which he minimized the events, denied the repression and presented the participants as violent criminals.

"The enemy of the Revolution is trying to complicate us in two scenarios: the first has to do with Covid-19 and the bet that it continues to complicate and that we do not have the capacity to successfully face the pandemic," he said, as published by the Granma newspaper.

"The other objective the enemy is betting on is creating social unrest, uncertainty," he added. He claimed that this is done through an alleged "campaign on social media", which he described as "irritating, totally lying, slanderous."

After having called for the violence of pro-regime mobs against peaceful protesters, he said that "the calls on social networks are totally aggressive, calling for murder, calling for lynching, threatening, calling for the destruction of facilities, calling for an attack on dwellings of people, and in particular of people identified as revolutionaries ". He did not present evidence of those allegations.

"That speech that the Government is repressing peaceful demonstrations, or that request that they make that Cuba or the Government respect the opinion of its citizens is a total lie and is a total slander," he added, although images of violent repression abound.

He said that "those who are demonstrating are not demonstrating peacefully. They are called by the hatred that has been instilling in them all this strategy of subversion so unworthily mounted" on social networks.

According to the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, "(images of) the demonstrations in support of the Revolution have been used (...) as if they were public acts against the Revolution.

" They have also taken "views, photographs, moments from other countries, from other latitudes that have nothing to do with Cuba," he said. He mentioned a demonstration in Egypt, "to say that it is a demonstration on the Malecón" and the celebrations of Argentina's triumph in the soccer Cup.

He did not say anything about the foreign photojournalists accredited in Cuba, attacked by regime mobs when they took pictures of the events on Sunday, as happened to Ramón Espinosa, of the AP agency.

Despite the fact that his government has historically been accused of its lack of transparency and in the midst of the crisis it has cut the Internet service on the island to prevent the leakage of information, Díaz-Canel said that they are "giving transparent information about what is happening ".

[Nino]

And it gets worse by the day ...

Matanzas province is where Varadero is located with all the infections from Russian tourists and Cubans returning from Russia ...

Cuba registers a record of deaths from Covid-19: 51 deaths, 31 of them in Matanzas

The Island adds 6,080 more cases of coronavirus.

DDC Havana 14 Jul 2021 - 17:00 CEST

https://diariodecuba.com/cuba/1626274830_32650.html

The infections correspond to Matanzas (1,913), Havana (658), Artemisa (120), Pinar del Río (179), Mayabeque (169), Ciego de Ávila (589), Villa Clara (451), Cienfuegos (162), Sancti Spíritus (118), Camagüey (344), Santiago (502), Guantánamo (304), Holguín (303), Las Tunas (163) and Granma (105).

[Nino]

And it gets worse by the minute ... what a clown.

"There is no popular outbreak, but an aggression from the United States," says the Cuban Foreign Minister

Bruno Rodríguez accuses the northern neighbor of "taking advantage of" the pandemic "to attack the revolutionary government"

14ymedio, Havana | July 14, 2021

https://www.14ymedio.com/cuba/estallido-agresion-EE-UU-canciller-Bruno_Rodriguez-11J_0_3130486921.html

For the island's foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez, "there was no social outbreak in Cuba" on July 11, but rather an "information war" with the participation of large US companies such as Twitter.

During an appearance of almost two hours before 25 foreign correspondents on Tuesday, the minister accused the US of "taking advantage of the pandemic situation" to attack the revolutionary government. "

The Foreign Minister said he had seen scenes of repression "worse in Europe" than those that have occurred on the island since Sunday, when thousands of people rose up against the regime in numerous cities in the country. For the Chancellor, the demonstrations of unarmed citizens are nothing more than "riots", "disorders" and "vandalism", of which he pointed directly to the northern neighbor.

Rodríguez defended the actions of the regime alleging the official arguments: the "increased aggression" of the United States, through the "blockade" and the financing with "hundreds of millions of dollars" to "subversive agents" to "interfere in the internal affairs" of the island.

The US saw in the virus, according to the foreign minister, "an opportunity" to reinforce "the blockade" with political motives and apply what he called "maximum pressure measures to reinforce the aggression against our country."

[CaptainQuintero]

  I would assume fizzle and any shrewd political operators there will be using this to strengthen their position and weaken Canel's in anticipation of a 'Meet your new boss, same as the old boss' move

  Pessimistic I know but there's a huge gap between making a government's position untenable and putting in place a new political system. There's too many people in positions of power/influence that would have to step aside for it to happen. Is there a figurehead/group who would be able to take the lead and organise in that power vacuum? If not it's easy for any politician/gangster/military to step in under the premise of change and consolidate their position

  I hope I'm wrong though, people everywhere need some good to come out of the past 18 months

[Ryan]

Here's a recent article, scant on details, but sums up what's happened so far.

https://english.elpais.com/usa/2021-07-14/protests-in-cuba-calling-things-by-their-name.html?ssm=TW_CC&fbclid=IwAR2MN8TTxdR26E9kYxT-TIPNXfnzkkDJ0d1xgwACE47vG3o6LdYfTHulX1w

[Silverstix]

What was the model for overthrowing the gov't back in the '50s?  Did they have a plan to move forward with a new gov't back then?  Forgive my lack of knowledge on the matter

[Ryan]

25 minutes ago, Silverstix said:

What was the model for overthrowing the gov't back in the '50s?  Did they have a plan to move forward with a new gov't back then?  Forgive my lack of knowledge on the matter

My stab at summing up what happened from 1957 - 59.

Gain popular support from the rural poor and international press in a two year trek to Havana, with a promise of restoring democracy and the 1940 constitution.

Things are bad now in Cuba, but I do think they were worse for the majority of the population, the rural poor, in the late 50s. Castro, Guevara and Cienfuegos were charismatic leaders. The protests now don't seem to have leadership or direction. I'm hearing more and more that the protests were spontaneous, that they spread through cities by seeing what was happening online, rather than simultaneous protests having been organised in different cities.

[Trapper99]

5 hours ago, Nino said:

Hate to admit it but I share your thought ...

Lots of anger but no rallying figure, no plan and no media support.

Point 3 followed by point 4 ...

Status quo is typically the norm for these types of events, and what I would bet on. It's not always the norm though, as history has shown governments and countries come and go (arguably at a 100% rate on a long enough time frame), it's just a matter of when.