{"id":1420375,"date":"2022-04-05T15:29:51","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T19:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1420375"},"modified":"2022-04-05T15:29:53","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T19:29:53","slug":"report-cuba-experienced-over-200-protests-in-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-cuba-experienced-over-200-protests-in-march\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Cuba Experienced over 200 Protests in March"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Freport-cuba-experienced-over-200-protests-in-march%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1420375&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">Protesters convened 232 assemblies against the Communist Party in Cuba throughout March, over half of them specifically demanding an end to the repression of civil and political rights, the Cuban Observatory of Conflict (OCC) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.infobae.com\/america\/america-latina\/2022\/04\/04\/cuba-es-una-bomba-social-una-ong-registro-232-protestas-contra-la-dictadura-en-marzo\/\">revealed<\/a> in a report on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The number represents a modest increase from the 207 protests the NGO documented within Cuba in February \u2013 and a reminder to the world that civil dissatisfaction and calls for an end to the 63-year-old communist regime in the country have increased, not diminished, since the wave of national protests that rocked the country on July 11, 2021.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>The protests in July reportedly occurred simultaneously in hundreds of municipalities and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/latin-america\/2021\/08\/03\/study-187000-cubans-participated-protests-july\/\">attracted<\/a> an estimated 187,000 people, all calling for freedom and the fall of the Castro regime. The protests resulted in a wave of heavy coverage of the Cuban freedom movement for some weeks in the United States, but the subsequent wave of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/latin-america\/2021\/07\/14\/cuba-video-shows-police-shoot-protester-front-toddlers\/\">terror<\/a> the Communist Party implemented to disappear the protesters and silence anyone who may have been inspired to join the movement did not receive similar attention. The administration of President Joe Biden has not at press time revealed any coherent foreign policy strategy to deal with America\u2019s neighbor 90 miles to the south.<\/p>\n<p>The OCC, an NGO that tracks dissident activity and political repression in Cuba, said in its report that the Castro regime \u201chas implemented a policy of extreme terror\u201d in the aftermath of the July 2021 protests in an attempt to retain its stranglehold on power, but it has failed to silence \u201cthe frustration over the internal generalized crisis and lack of freedoms, as well as the disproportionate sentences and other abuses against [July 11] protesters.\u201d The group reported it had documented 2,267 protests between July 2021 and March 2022.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_18615218\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1233949339.png\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Riot police walk the streets after a demonstration against the government of President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Arroyo Naranjo Municipality, Havana on July 12, 2021. (YAMIL LAGE\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Cubans have for decades endured extreme poverty \u2013 while members of the Castro family boasted of eating <a href=\"https:\/\/therealcuba.com\/?p=2980\">lobster<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/latin-america\/2019\/01\/07\/cubans-outraged-luxury-life-fidel-castros-grandson\/\">driving<\/a> fancy cars, and collecting luxury <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rolexmagazine.com\/2010\/05\/rolex-revolutionary-fidel-castro-no.html\">watches<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 due to the Communist Party raiding government coffers for the personal benefit of its leaders. Gross <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cubaencuentro.com\/cuba\/articulos\/cincuenta-anos-de-la-zafra-de-los-10-millones-336804\">mismanagement<\/a> of critical industries such as agriculture have also left Cubans struggling to feed their families, subjected to a ration card system that requires many to live off of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/national-security\/2019\/07\/08\/dissidents-cuba-selling-rotten-meat-diabetics-pregnant-women\/\">rancid meat<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/latin-america\/2018\/12\/17\/cuba-blames-trump-food-shortages\/\">stale bread<\/a>. The Chinese coronavirus pandemic devastated one of Cuba\u2019s key economic sectors, tourism, adding to the strain.<\/p>\n<p>While some, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/07\/11\/biden-administration-claims-cuban-anti-communist-protests-are-about-rising-covid-cases-deaths\/\">members<\/a> of the Biden administration, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/07\/12\/white-house-cuban-freedom-could-mean-freedom-from-rising-covid-cases\/\">tried<\/a> to blame the July protests on discontent stemming from the pandemic, little evidence from the actual statements that protesters made that day suggests that this was the case. The subsequent protests documented, OCC explained this week, were also explicit calls for political freedom and an end to communism. Of the 232 protests in March, 134 explicitly addressed \u201cpolitical repression and abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>OCC referred to Cuba as a \u201csocial bomb with a short fuse,\u201d arguing that \u201cthe psychology of the population is not today what it was before the social explosion of July 11\u201d and citizens are less hesitant to express discontent publicly.<\/p>\n<p>Many of the protests this month addressed the ongoing trials of individuals arrested on July 11, 2021, for protesting against the regime or being found near the vicinity of a protest. The Communist Party is believed to have arrested thousands of people \u2013 though no concrete tally exists at press time, as the regime often fails to formally charge political dissidents so as to not count them among political prisoners \u2013 over the protests and has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/latin-america\/2022\/01\/15\/cuba-prosecutors-hold-mass-trial-for-protesters-including-children-psychiatric-patient\/\">processed<\/a> them through mass trials featuring as many as 30 people sentenced at a time. The government has announced sentences of decades in prison for some of those convicted of participating in the protests, among them children and individuals whose families say had documented mental health conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Cuban prosecutors have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/latin-america\/2022\/03\/18\/cuba-sentences-children-10-20-years-prison-july-protests\/\">indicted<\/a> civilians following the protests for \u201ccrimes\u201d like \u201cvandalism,\u201d \u201csedition,\u201d and \u201cdisrespect\u201d (<em>desacato<\/em>), a Cuban violation essentially used to mean disagreement with the government in any form. Children under 18 have received sentences as high as 19 years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>Others have been arrested following the protests for using social media to express opposition to the government, even when no evidence suggests they participated in any protest in the real world. On Monday, the independent Cuban outlet 14 y Medio <a href=\"https:\/\/www.14ymedio.com\/cuba\/Condenados-cubanos-conversaciones-intervenidas-G2_0_3288871090.html\">reported<\/a> that three young men were sentenced to up to five years in prison for discussing the protests in a WhatsApp group.\u00a0Leod\u00e1n P\u00e9rez Col\u00f3n, 22 and sentenced to five years in prison, had invited friends to a WhatsApp group titled \u201cAll for Liberty\u201d and tried to organize protests. He was also convicted for a social media livestream in which he allegedly hurled various profanities at Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel, the figurehead \u201cpresident\u201d of the Castro regime.<\/p>\n<p>Cuban Prisoners Defenders, an NGO that logs human rights abuses on the island, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prisonersdefenders.org\/2022\/03\/29\/prisoners-defenders-denuncia-ante-la-onu-mas-de-100-victimas-de-tortura-en-cuba\/\">revealed<\/a> in a report last week that the Castro regime is using systematic torture tactics on those arrested following the July protests. The group surveyed 101 prisoners and their relatives to find that police subject dissidents to, among other abuses, \u201cforced labor,\u201d \u201cdeprivation of medical care,\u201d \u201csolitary confinement,\u201d sleep and food deprivation, and \u201chumiliation, degradation and verbal abuse.\u201d Several of those surveyed hold foreign citizenship, which Cuban Prisoners Defenders noted has made little difference in their treatment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExcept for the United States, the rest of the countries, Spain, Canada and Germany, to give three examples, have so far left their citizens without any protection whatsoever,\u201d the group observed.<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Frances Martel on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1649240693212000&#038;usg=AOvVaw2G1_7aOrrFB8JlYvlf1xV8\">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1649240693212000&#038;usg=AOvVaw3KS-3uKdKCZwSOvHwnFV6G\">Twitter.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Protesters convened 232 assemblies against the Communist Party in Cuba throughout March, over half of them specifically demanding an end to the repression of civil and political rights, the Cuban<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1420375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1420375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1420375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1420375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1420375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}