Cuba sees biggest protests against Communist government in decades

Cubans take to the streets in rare demonstrations against a lack of freedoms and a deteriorating economy.
Thousands of Cubans rallied to the streets on Sunday to protest a lack of food and medicine amid a severe economic crisis exacerbated by the Covid-19 outbreak and US sanctions.

According to people who spoke to CNN and recordings from numerous towns, including the capital Havana, demonstrators complained about a lack of freedom and the worsening economic condition during the unusual protests.
According to Reuters, many people chanted "freedom" and demanded that President Miguel Daz-Canel resign.
Police arrested a number of demonstrators and deployed tear gas to disperse several demonstrations.
President Daz-Canel stated in a nationally televised address that US trade sanctions had caused economic hardship on the communist-run island. In his remarks, Daz-Canel made no compromises to the protesters.
"The order to fight has been given," he remarked at the conclusion of his presentation, "and revolutionaries must be on the streets."
Hundreds of protesters overcame a large police presence in the city of San Antonio de Los Baos, just outside Havana province, to vent their grievances.
Residents had been without electricity for a week, according to one resident who did not want to be recognized, and this had "detonated" the increasing indignation.
For a week, there had been outages, which had "detonated" the increasing indignation.
Other protests looked to be taking place in a handful of cities and towns across the island, according to videos posted on social media.
People shouted "I'm not afraid" or "I want liberty" or "I want access to coronavirus vaccines" in several of the footage.
"The United States supports freedom of expression and assembly across Cuba, and would strongly condemn any violence or targeting of peaceful protestors who are expressing their universal rights," White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan tweeted Sunday night.
Other US officials advised caution, claiming that Cubans had the right to demonstrate.