Headline Roundup • July 13th, 2021
Perspectives: Cuban Protests
World,Foreign Policy,Cuba,Caribbean,State Department,Free Speech,Protests,Communism,Socialism,Democracy,Capitalism,Authoritarianism
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Protests that broke out over the weekend against Cuba’s government continued on Monday in some cities, including Tampa, Florida. Cuban anti-government activists said that over 100 people were arrested or missing as of Tuesday. Among those detained was Spanish journalist Camila Acosta, whose release was demanded by the Spanish government on Tuesday. The events also strained relations between the governments of the U.S. and Cuba, with President Joe Biden expressing support for the protesters, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel accusing the U.S. of stoking social unrest in Cuba, and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken replying, “It would be a grievous mistake for the Cuban regime to interpret what is happening…as a result or product of anything the United States has done.”
Voices in right-rated outlets used the protests to criticize progressive Democrats and tended to see the protests as a rejection of ideologies like communism and socialism. Voices in left- and center-rated outlets tended to focus more on material issues in Cuba like electricity cuts, food shortages and restrictions on free speech.
Featured Coverage of this Story
Washington Post
On Sunday, Cubans came out to the streets in more than 50 towns and cities and raised their voices to call for an end to the dictatorship. Unprecedented scenes took place across the island — although you would have been excused if you thought you were watching protests anywhere else in Latin America. The region has been a hotbed of discontent in recent months, but Cuba has been suffering for a long time while biting its tongue.
The flame that set up the protests had been flickering for a while. Sparks have flown since...
CNN Digital
For months the refrain across Cuba has been "¿hasta cuando?"
How much longer?
Cubans are used to being endlessly patient and inventive in the face of an often dysfunctional daily existence and crushing shortages.
But over the past several years that ability to overcome misfortune has been replaced by a stone-faced reality that life has become as difficult as during any point in their embattled lives.
Relations with the United States often act as a barometer for how optimistically or pessimistically Cubans view their future. When then-President Barack Obama famously declared during his 2016...
National Review (News)
It’s not easy to run a hideous dictatorship and still have fans and defenders in fashionable quarters, but the Castro regime has managed it for decades.
The mass, spontaneous protests that broke out all over Cuba last weekend are yet another sign that the country’s government lacks legitimacy. In Cuba, it is the government versus the people, and lo, all these years, Castro’s apologists have been with the government.
