Anti-govt protests held in eastern Cuba town

[El Presidente]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/isolated-protest-in-eastern-cuba-sparks-dueling-versions-on-social-media/ar-AA1aRu4d?ocid=Peregrine

Isolated protest in eastern Cuba sparks dueling versions on social media

Story by Reuters • Yesterday 23:54

 

 

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cubans in Caimanera, a small port town near the U.S. military base at Guantanamo, took to the streets late on Saturday evening, according to social media and official reports, in the first known anti-government protests of the year in Cuba.

Videos posted on social media, many shared by dissidents outside Cuba and by human rights groups, showed what appeared to be men in military uniforms and others in civilian clothing confronting dozens of protesters on a dimly lit street while onlookers recorded the events with cellphones.

The videos showed the protesters in the fishing village near the eastern tip of the island voicing anti-government chants and cries of "freedom."

Tensions have run particularly high in communist-run Cuba for several weeks as a dire fuel shortage has stressed the country's public transportation, power generation and food supply.

The Cuban government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But state-run radio journalist Mabel Pozo said on social media that the protest began when "various citizens, some in a state of drunkenness, yelled statements against the Cuban social process and regarding their dissatisfactions."

Pozo wrote that "security forces and other people contributed to dissuade people concentrated on the street, who responded and returned to their homes."

 

Far-flung Caimanera is known in Cuba as the "first trench of anti-imperialism" for its proximity to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo. The town is more than 12 hours overland from the capital Havana.

Protests in Cuba are exceedingly rare but have cropped up more often in recent years as economic crisis racks the island. While the country's 2019 constitution grants Cubans the right to protest, a law more specifically defining that right is stalled in the legislature.

Dissidents have accused the Cuban government of blocking internet traffic countrywide when protests flare in a bid to contain anti-government sentiment.

Global web watchdog Netblocks showed a sharp drop in web traffic in Cuba on Saturday shortly after the protest was first reported.

"Network data show a collapse in internet traffic in #Cuba amid protests for freedom and human rights centering around Caimanera, Guantanamo; connectivity remains intermittent at present with partial restoration noted," the internet monitor said on Twitter.

The state-run media version of events appeared to blame the lack of internet access on a spike in web traffic.

"The tranquility of the afternoon was altered this Saturday in Caimanera and of course, the internet nearly collapsed," official journalist Pozo said.

That message was shared by state-run TV broadcaster Canal Caribe several hours after the first videos were posted, confirming the protest in Caimanera but assuring citizens that "the streets were calm."

(Reporting by Dave Sherwood; Editing by Will Dunham)

[SCgarman]

The citizens there are no doubt sick of the BS. Fuel shortages, food shortages, a broken power grid, hurricane damage, a lack of condoms. How can it possibly get worse? And seems there are no countries that are willing to bail them out of their issues. 

[NSXCIGAR]

10 hours ago, SCgarman said:

a lack of condoms

That really would be something if that's what finally toppled the regime. The "condom revolution"! 

[chris12381]

Check out this 2018 article on Caimanera. In this isolated Cuban town on Guantanamo Bay, they still call Americans ‘the enemy’ .  
Consider for a moment the amount of scrutiny it takes to be a resident of a place like this.  You don't get in or out of there without special permission from the Ministry of the Interior.  It's a forbidden/closed town.  Most of the people who live there are Cuban military and their families.  They are border guards charged with providing the "first trench of anti-imperialism."  They still call Americans "the enemy". They still hear machine gun fire and mortar explosions every day. 
In other words, the people protesting in Caimanera are MILITARY or directly related to members of the Cuban military.  They are all active members of the Party.  These people have lived under the watchful eye of the Cuban State to a degree higher than even the average Cuban has...and they were willing to stick their necks out as they did. 

[helix]

That is amazing . 

[Corylax18]

It sounds like they stamped it out before it could spread, but as others have said, this place is literally across the fence from the Guantanamo Base. Its military and salt production, not much else. The last revolution started in the eastern part of the country, maybe the next one will as well. I've seen reports of 5 people "disappearing", most likely arrested, but nobody seems to know where they went.