I haven't been on tumblr much today or yesterday and I see the Cuba thing is quite new but I don't know anything about what happened. Can you make a summary? I'd trust you more than google
A brief summary
Cuba is facing a crisis due to two factors:
• Usamerican imperialism and the embargo they are forcing on the Island
• the Cuban government being a dictatorship that has lasted and subdued for 62 years
Cuba has had for the last years two currencies, el Peso Cubano and the Dollar, but it kept many people afloat though still struggling. in the middle of the pandemic though the cuban government decided to change its currency to the dollar.
The government’s store with primary necessities only accepted dollar from a credit card, said credit card can’t be charged by the citizen and can only be charged by someone outside of the country. The peso cubano is still making its rounds, but it’s basically invaluable if you need to buy basic necessities. The prices have been raised dramatically, making a Tachipirina pack of 10 pills cost up to $150. Before this change in currency Cubans kept afloat alternating the two currencies.
During the pandemic cubans also had to come out and participate in las colas waiting for the government distributed food, which was often scarce or even non edible. This colas were often a breeding ground for covid contagions or heart attacks and faintings due to the hot sun.
When the Cuban population have tried to express it’s dissent to the conditions they were being subdued to they often were silenced with force, which is something that is not new. Many people during the Cuban dictatorship have been forcefully silenced or even jailed for simply criticizing the government, or protest against policies in Cuba. The government did not stop at just jailing people, protestors sometimes never came back.
I have already talked about this in this blog, but beef meat is illegal to own, buy or sell. If you are found doing one of these things you could get more than 10 years.
If someone is against the government and they are reported law enforcements force it’s citizens to do “Actos de Repudio” against that person, if you don’t you can get blackmailed by the police which of course is an extreme violation.
People can’t talk in Cuba about race or the discrepancy between the people, if you do you can be labeled as a oppositor and can be silenced by force. Until a few years ago the situation was even worse, and many Cuban activists have been jailed for pointing out their struggles.
If you are LGBT+ and you talk about the struggles you live as an LGBT person they will label you an oppositor, the only pride march that was allowed was Mariela Castro’s, Raúl’s daughter, but pride marches made by a regular Cubans often ends up in police brutality.
If a transgender child wants to switch their school uniform to the one of their gender they will be either forced to wear the school uniform that corresponds to their agab or they will be promptly kicked out, their parents would be blackmailed by law enforcements or the child might even face conversation therapy.
I am talking about all of this to show exactly how you can become an oppositor to the Cuban government without even being an oppositor, just criticizing the government’s flaws. People who say the Cuban people have elected them don’t know that Cuba has only ONE PARTY, el Partido Comunista Cubano lead currently by Raul Castro and Diaz-Canel.
Cuba’s governmentals often benefit on the backs of its population, doing things that to the regular Cuban are prohibited.
An example of this is during Los Apagones which is the government’s cut of electricity to “preserve energy” through ALL THE ISLAND, apart from their own quarters which are lit up even while the whole country is without electricity.
The avarege income for a cuban house is $6 dollars, the highest being $8, and when a Cuban starts to earn more than the government permits they will forcefully stop you from working.
The USA’s embargo has of course made everything worse, and unfortunately the conditions of all of this has rendered Cuba to starvation and a severe lack of access to medical service even with the covid emergencies.
All of this combined has culminated in the protests that started in San Antonio de los Baños and spread throughout all the island, protests against the government. The protests were at first pacific, but when law enforcement responded with violence (shooting people, abusing their power ecc.) the people retaliated, an they started looting government stores and spreading the food they could get their hands on and setting on fire police stores.
In the midst of this the government is breaking into houses and killing protesters or their family, enforcing children to participate in military uprising against protesters and is currently arresting the family of artists outside of Cuba who are speaking out in support of the protests, and have arrested and released the artist Yomil.
The USA wants to do a military intervention, but us Cubans URGE American citizens to call to lift the embargo, and discourage the intervention.
In the midst of all of this Raul Castro fled to Venezuela but Diaz-Canel is still in the island and they are still forcefully silencing the people.
This is what for now is happening, but there will be updates soon.
thanks for asking and thanks to anyone who is supporting us!
