- Title: Show of support in Miami for Cuban protesters
- Date: 13th July 2021
- Summary: MIAMI, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (JULY 12, 2021) (REUTERS) DEMONSTRATORS HOLDING SIGNS READING (SPANISH) "NO COMMUNISM" AND "FREE CUBA" PAN OF DEMONSTRATORS ON VARIOUS STREET CORNERS AND LINE OF POLICE CARS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CRISTHIAN TAMAYO, NATIVE OF CUBA, HAS BEEN LIVING IN THE U.S. FOR FIVE YEARS, SAYING: "I think the world has to know what is happening in Cuba because the Cuban people are suffering and it is because the world doesn't know what is happening in Cuba. So, they have to know about the human rights, to know, to do an intervention." (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VIVIAN MARTELL, BORN IN CUBA AND HAS BEEN LIVING IN THE U.S. FOR SIX YEARS, SAYING: "Imagine. To have a free Cuba to me means that I am free also because my family is there. My children are there. My siblings, my friends are there. It is my homeland. That is the importance to me." (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CARLOS ADRIAN ARAGON, SAYING: "The people are saying Enough. The people are saying Freedom. Enough of the dictator ship. Enough of repression. We need military intervention. Urgently. From the United States. Because they're going to kill the Cuban people." DEMONSTRATORS HOLDING SIGNS
- Embargoed: 27th July 2021 02:56
- Keywords: American Cuba Miami U.S. demonstration protest unrest
- Location: MIAMI, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
- City: MIAMI, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,United States,Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA001ELOBFPJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Dozens of people gathered in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood on Monday (July 12) to show their support for those involved in demonstrations in Cuba over the weekend.
Holding signs reading "No communism" and "Free Cuba," they said they were aligned with those demanding a change in government in Cuba.
"The Cuban people are suffering," Christhian Tamayo, a native of Cuba who has been living in Miami for five years, said.
Tamayo is particularly concerned about possible retaliation against demonstrators and said he would like to see some sort of international 'intervention' in Cuba.
Thousands of Cubans joined street protests from Havana to Santiago on Sunday (July 11) in the biggest anti-government demonstrations on the Communist-run island in decades. They were protesting against the country's dire economic crisis and handling of the pandemic, but many went further, calling for an end to communism and chanting "freedom."
At least 100 protesters, activists, and independent journalists had been detained nationwide since Sunday, according to exiled rights group Cubalex - some at the protests but others as they tried to leave their homes.
Others Reuters spoke to said they hoped there would be no more protests, citing fears of violence, and saying they would prefer there to be more dialogue.
The protests erupted amid both Cuba's deepest economic crisis since the fall of former ally the Soviet Union and a surge in COVID-19 infections that has pushed some hospitals to the edge of collapse in a country that prides itself on its healthcare system.
The tightening of decades-old U.S. sanctions under former U.S. President Donald Trump and the pandemic have exacerbated shortages of food and medicine, as well as power outages.
(Production: Maria Alejandra Cardona, Deb Gembara) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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