Protests Erupt in Cuba

[Lplus]

‘They want to make an example’: Cuba protesters hit with severe sentences

From the Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/15/cuba-protesters-sentences-sedition

 

[dann]

Did you wonder about the title of the article after you read it, Lplus? (If you actually did read it, that is.)

On the one hand, you have Cuba protesters hit with severe sentences, and on the other hand, you have stories like this one:

One Sunday last summer, 18-year-old Eloy Cardoso left his mother’s house on the outskirts of Havana to collect an Atari game console from a friend.
He’d stayed at home the previous day, while the largest anti-government demonstrations since the revolution had ripped through Cuba.
The authorities had managed to quell the protests in most of the country overnight, but not in La Güinera: unrest was still raging in the humble and normally calm neighbourhood, and Eloy walked out into a bloody brawl.
Shops were smashed and looted, party supporters wielded clubs, police wrestled with youths, and one man was shot dead. Amid the tumult, Cardoso began to throw stones at the police.

So the poor guy just left his mother's house to collect an Atari game from a friend, and then he suddenly began to throw stones at the police amid the tumult. Why? Because the police prevented him from picking up the Atari game?! Or because they were trying to prevent people from smashing and looting shops?

And shops were smashed and looted, and yet the people hit with harsh sentences are protesters, not looters and people throwing stones at the police, according to the title of the article.

This looks like the kind of reporting on the Capitol riots that we have seen from Fox and other right-wing loonies recently when armed seditionists invading the Capitol building are described as peaceful tourists.

 

[dann]

Since last month, Nov 16:

The most recent SARS-CoV-2 numbers:
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people. 7-day rolling average. Cuba 33, USA 251.
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people. 7-day rolling average. Cuba 0.23, USA 3.49.
Share of people vaccinated against COVID-19 Cuba: fully 73.41, total 89.07; USA: fully 57.58, total 67.38.

Since it takes three jabs to be fully vaccinated in Cuba, the difference is even bigger if we look at
COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people Cuba 238.92, USA 130.99.

And even at this point, Cuba is still vaccinating much more than the USA:
Daily COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people. Rolling 7-day average. Cuba 0.98, USA 0.30.

Dec 17, 2021:
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people. 7-day rolling average. Cuba 33, USA 251. --> Cuba 6; USA 357
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people. 7-day rolling average. Cuba 0.23, USA 3.49. --> Cuba 0.03; USA 3.98
The Cuban trend is still decreasing numbers of new cases and deaths.

Share of people vaccinated against COVID-19. Cuba: fully 73.41, total 89.07; USA: fully 57.58, total 67.38. --> Cuba: fully 82.06, total 90.37; USA: fully 60.72; total 72.23
COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people. Cuba 238.92, USA 130.99 --> Cuba 257.04; USA 147.6
Daily COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people. Rolling 7-day average. Cuba 0.98, USA 0.30 --> Cuba 0.44; USA 0.40

Today, Jan 17, 2022:
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people. 7-day rolling average. Cuba 33, USA 251. --> Cuba 6; USA 357. --> Cuba 275; USA 2,334Daily new confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people. 7-day rolling average. Cuba 0.23, USA 3.49. --> Cuba 0.03; USA 3.98. --> Cuba 0.11; USA 5.33 (A weird jump in the Cuban numbers on Jan 10!)
The trend is now rising numbers of new cases and deaths in both Cuba and the USA.

Share of people vaccinated against COVID-19. Cuba: fully 73.41, total 89.07; USA: fully 57.58, total 67.38. --> Cuba: fully 82.06, total 90.37; USA: fully 60.72; total 72.23 --> Cuba: fully 86.32, total 92.99; USA: fully 62.46; total 74.75COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people. Cuba 238.92, USA 130.99 --> Cuba 257.04; USA 147.6 --> Cuba 288.05; USA 158.7 (Cuba recently began administering booster shots to the general population.)
Daily COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people. Rolling 7-day average. Cuba 0.98, USA 0.30 --> Cuba 0.44; USA 0.40 --> Cuba 1.58; USA 0.24
It is obvious that the Cubans are worried about the new variant: Con la variante Ómicron no podemos confiarnos para nada, advierte Primer Ministro (Granma.cu, Jan 11, 2022)

 

[Lplus]

Did you wonder about the title of the article after you read it, Lplus? (If you actually did read it, that is.)

On the one hand, you have Cuba protesters hit with severe sentences, and on the other hand, you have stories like this one:




So the poor guy just left his mother's house to collect an Atari game from a friend, and then he suddenly began to throw stones at the police amid the tumult. Why? Because the police prevented him from picking up the Atari game?! Or because they were trying to prevent people from smashing and looting shops?

And shops were smashed and looted, and yet the people hit with harsh sentences are protesters, not looters and people throwing stones at the police, according to the title of the article.

This looks like the kind of reporting on the Capitol riots that we have seen from Fox and other right-wing loonies recently when armed seditionists invading the Capitol building are described as peaceful tourists.

Yes, I read the article

Another quote

The trial is one of scores currently playing out across the island, as, six months after the demonstrations, Cuban courts have quietly started imposing draconian sentences on the protesters who – sometimes peacefully, sometimes less so – flooded the streets last summer.

Though the state has a history of issuing stiff sentences to organised political dissidents, the punishments now being meted out are unusually severe.

I'm sure you think they were all just innocent boys caught up in some sort of US inspired plot to oust a communist government - but then you would.

 

[dann]

No, I wouldn't and I don't.

The hardships that most of the Cubans protested against peacefully were very real - and on July 11 about to get even worse due to the pandemic. However, looting food stores, smashing police cars and encouraging an invasion by U.S. troops missed the point. As does the kind of journalism that portrays invaders of the Capitol building in Washington as peaceful tourists and looters and stone throwers in Cuba as peaceful protesters.

And the hardships are still there, which the many articles about foreign aid serve to stress:
Cuba received 135 donations from compatriots abroad and friends in 2021 (Granma.cu, Jan 19, 2022)

That the USA tries to take advantage of those hardships is despicable and the reason why the protests against the U.S. blockade are always several times larger than the July 2020 protests:
Millions of U.S. dollars to destabilize Cuba (Granma.cu, Jan 18, 2022)

But you wouldn't want to hear about "some sort of US inspired plot to oust a communist government," would you?!

 

[dann]

Cuban medical brigades to help the U.S. fight Omicron?

A group of US mayors is currently showing interest in Cuba's medical collaboration, mainly in the Henry Reeve internationalist brigade, which has assisted the fight against Covid-19 in several countries of the world.
This was reported by the website The Washington Informer, which gives details on the obstacles imposed by Washington to Cuba’s medical assistance.
Amid the spread of the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in the United States, this media outlet notes, a group of local leaders will urge the Biden administration to lift this long-lasting blockade that prevents Cuban health professionals from assisting doctors on US soil.
US mayors show interest in Cuban medical collaboration (Prensa Latina, Jan 20, 2022)

Throughout the pandemic, a collective of grassroots organizers and industry leaders have coalesced around a mission to compel the U.S. government’s collaboration with Cuba’s Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade in the fight against COVID-19.
As the omicron variant makes waves across the country, a collective of U.S. mayors have geared up to encourage the Biden administration to override a longstanding trade embargo that prevents the Cuban medical brigade from assisting doctors on U.S. soil.
(...)
“Cuba can be of tremendous help to us and we want to find a way to utilize your expertise [and] we’ll work on convincing our government to allow us to do that,” Ford said.
Media representatives for the White House didn’t return The Informer’s inquiry about the consideration the Biden administration has given to allowing Cuba’s Henry Reeve International Brigade to assist in domestic COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
Baraka’s office also didn’t provide comment about a recent meeting between his administration and the Cuban Ministry of Public Health.
Consortium of Mayors Organizes to Bring Cuban Medical Brigade to U.S. (The Washington Informer, Jan 19, 2022)

Cuba also offered to help New Orleans after Katrina so I doubt that much will come of this initiative.

 

[Arcade22]

Yes it's outrageous that people might violently protest against a brutal communist tyranny that rules with an iron fist and permits no non-violent means of removing them from power.

Think of the property damage!

 

[dann]

Tell us about how the brutal Social Democratic tyranny with an iron fist banned peaceful outdoor demonstrations in the summer of 2020:

Black lives matter-manifestation samlade tusentals i Stockholm (SVT.se, June 4, 2020)
Thousands defy pandemic ban to join Stockholm protests over U.S. police violence (Reuters, June 3, 2020)
Stockholm police end Black Lives Matter protest for exceeding gatherings limit (RadioSweden, June 4, 2020)


Were any stores looted? Were police cars destroyed? Was there any property damage at all?
Why were the protesters pepper sprayed, attacked and arrested?

Some people seem to think that words like brutal communist tyranny and iron fist are reality, and then they get terribly upset when somebody points out to them that it isn't so.

 

[dudalb]

Cuba is now just another Latin American Dictatorship. Only difference is the Marxist rhetoric.

 

[dann]

Like I said:

Some people seem to think that words like brutal communist tyranny and iron fist are reality, and then they get terribly upset when somebody points out to them that it isn't so.

Edited by Agatha: 

edited to remove breach of rule 12

 

[dann]

Information on criminal cases associated with July 11, 2021, disturbances (Granma.cu, Jan 27, 2022)

 

[dann]

The U.S. invests more for subversion in Cuba than it gets in return (Granma.cu, Feb 4, 2020)

The demoralized counterrevolution is laying low these days, spending most of its time on in-fighting
(...)
These are the legions who oppose the Cuban Revolution: embezzlers, vandals, people who devote their efforts to fomenting hatred and disunity, amateur comedians: this is the true nature of those who think they canmake a few bucks with the "fable" of the "terrible dictatorship."
With enemies like this... (Granma.cu, Feb 3, 2020)

 

[dann]

Analysis: Biassed reporting about Cuban protests in NYT and WP:

Although people in both countries protested for many of the same reasons—inequality, poverty, and unemployment exacerbated by Covid-19; rising cost of living; police violence; and systemic racism—the Colombian protests lasted far longer and were met with a harsher crackdown than in Cuba. According to respected human rights and civil society groups, the death toll ranged from 21 to 44 deaths in Colombia in a population of 51 million and one to five deaths in Cuba in a population of 11 million. In addition to disproportionately killing more people, Colombian police also injured protesters more severely than their Cuban counterparts, such as deliberately shooting at dozens of protesters’ eyes.
U.S. Media Provides Biased Coverage of Cuban and Colombian Protests (NACLA, Nov 15, 2021)

 

[dann]

Prosecutions stemming from July 11-12 disturbances advance (Granma.cu, Feb 14, 2022)
With descriptions of the not-so-peaceful events.

 

[dann]

One of those protests you would probably never have heard about:

As protesters also denounced the high price of food, banks and stores pulled down their security gates, and mass transit stopped running. Protesters warned:
“Crime cannot reign in our country. If Pérez is not freed, we will intensify our demonstration.”
Cuban doctor kidnapped in Haiti – her community protests (Workers, Jan 28, 2022)

Still nothing new about the Cuban medical brigades coming to the USA.

 

[GraculusTheGreenBird]

Tell us about how the brutal Social Democratic tyranny with an iron fist banned peaceful outdoor demonstrations in the summer of 2020:

Black lives matter-manifestation samlade tusentals i Stockholm (SVT.se, June 4, 2020)
Thousands defy pandemic ban to join Stockholm protests over U.S. police violence (Reuters, June 3, 2020)
Stockholm police end Black Lives Matter protest for exceeding gatherings limit (RadioSweden, June 4, 2020)


Were any stores looted? Were police cars destroyed? Was there any property damage at all?
Why were the protesters pepper sprayed, attacked and arrested?

Some people seem to think that words like brutal communist tyranny and iron fist are reality, and then they get terribly upset when somebody points out to them that it isn't so.

Sorry, how does that answer the charge that Cubans have no non-violent means of removing the dictatorship from power?

 

[dann]

I didn't notice any argument for the charge. Did you?

 

[dann]

What Cubans want for 2022

- with a message for Joe Biden:

2021 was a rough year for the Cuban people, who not only faced the pandemic, but devastating sanctions imposed by Trump and kept in place by Biden. So what are their hopes for 2022?
(Belly of the Beast on YouTube, Jan 1, 2022 - 3:00 min.)

(Notice that Cuban toddlers can both dance and wear a face mask at the same time!)

 

[dann]

It's that time of the month.
The SARS-CoV-2 numbers from Our World in Data, Nov 16, 2021, and today:
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people. 7-day rolling average. Cuba 33, USA 251. --> Cuba 79, USA 410.
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people. 7-day rolling average. Cuba 0.23, USA 3.49. --> Cuba 0.37, USA 6.80.

Vaccinations:
Share of people vaccinated against COVID-19 Cuba: fully 73.41, total 89.07; USA: fully 57.58, total 67.38. --> Cuba: fully 87.12, total 93.59; USA: fully 64.29, total 75.88.
Since it takes three jabs to be considered fully vaccinated in Cuba, the difference is even bigger if we look at:
COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people Cuba 238.92, USA 130.99. --> Cuba 306.92, USA 164.89.
Daily COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people. Rolling 7-day average. Cuba 0.98, USA 0.30. --> Cuba 0.23, USA 0.11.

The numbers from this thread for Dec 17, 2021, and January 17, 2022.

CNN's Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide

 

[dann]

The protests in Cuba on July 11, 2021:

On July 11, unprecedented protests erupted across Cuba. Most media organizations portrayed the demonstrations as a cry for freedom against Communism. But the reality was far more complex. Journalist Liz Oliva Fernández explores the root causes of the devastating economic crisis that has pushed Cuba to the brink. She takes the viewer to Cuba’s working class neighborhoods, where we see the impact of ever-intensifying U.S. sanctions during the COVID pandemic and the near fulfillment of a 1960 State Department memo justifying the purpose of the U.S. embargo: “[to deny] money and supplies...to decrease...wages, to bring about hunger, desperation, and overthrow of government.”
The War on Cuba — Episode 5 (Belly of the Beast on YouTube, Nov 13, 2021 - 20:54 min.)