- Title: Cuba, gripped by unrest, battles highest COVID caseload in the Americas
- Date: 19th July 2021
- Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (RECENT - JULY 11, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CROWDS AT PROTEST CHANTING ''FREEDOM'' AND ''PATRIA Y VIDA'' (HOMELAND AND LIFE) HAVANA, CUBA (JULY 19, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CUBAN, ISLEIDYS PEREZ, SAYING: "Yes, the coronavirus has worsened the situation. It has aggravated the issue with food and medicines as well." HAVANA, CUBA (JULY 16, 2021) (REUTERS) STREET IN HAVANA PEOPLE QUEUING OUTSIDE STORE TO BUY FOOD HAVANA, CUBA (JULY 19, 2021) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CUBAN, YULEIDIS PEREZ, SAYING: "They are not taking care of themselves, they are not protecting themselves. They are not being conscious of the disease, which is a disease that can kill. But no, I don't know anything about the protests." HAVANA, CUBA (JULY 17, 2021) (REUTERS) PEOPLE AT A GOVERNMENT RALLY RAUL CASTRO AT GOVERNMENT RALLY PEOPLE AT RALLY (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CUBAN PRESIDENT, MIGUEL DIAZ-CANEL, SAYING: "We are not gathered here this morning in the midst of a complicated epidemiological situation because of a whim. Respecting as much as possible the sanitary and social distancing measures, we have summoned you to once more denounce the embargo, the aggression and the terror." PEOPLE AT RALLY (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HAVANA, MARIA, SAYING: "Those who have fled the country did not take into consideration the pandemic and the conditions people are living in our country. And we are not going to allow them to take us off the streets, us who are Cuban revolutionaries." HAVANA, CUBA (JULY 16, 2021) (REUTERS) STREET PEOPLE QUEUING TO BUY FOOD
- Embargoed: 2nd August 2021 17:30
- Keywords: Covid-19 Miguel Diaz-Canel government rally
- Location: CARDENAS, MATANZAS PROVINCE & HAVANA, CUBA
- City: CARDENAS, MATANZAS PROVINCE & HAVANA, CUBA
- Country: Cuba
- Topics: Health/Medicine,South America / Central America
- Reuters ID: LVA002EMICPXJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Cuba, which kept coronavirus infections low last year, now has the highest rate of contagion per capita in Latin America. That has strained its healthcare sector and helped stoke rare protests that have roiled the Communist-run island.
On Saturday (July 17), authorities organized pro-government rallies across the island attended by thousands.
But many Cubans have aimed their anger at their own government's handling of the economy and the pandemic. Some critics complained that the authorities appeared to have ample transport to deploy security forces to quell protests and bus state workers to rallies, while lacking ambulances.
The Caribbean nation of 11 million people reported nearly 4,000 confirmed cases per million residents over the last week, nine times more than the world average and more than any other country in the Americas for its size.
The outbreak, fuelled by the arrival of the more contagious Delta variant first identified in India, has pushed hospitals at the virus epicentre in the province of Matanzas to the brink. State media has shown rare images of patients in beds in corridors and doctors complaining of a lack of oxygen, ventilators and medicines.
Cuba's handling of the pandemic was one of the issues that propelled thousands to take to the streets nationwide on July 11 in unprecedented anti-government demonstrations in a country where public spaces are tightly controlled. Demonstrators also protested shortages of food and medicines and curbs on civil liberties.
Cuba is not alone in struggling under new waves of the pandemic. But the political implications of such a crisis are greater in a country where healthcare is considered one of the pillars of legitimacy of its "revolutionary" one-party system.
Moreover the outbreak and subsequent lockdown and reduction in numbers of flights has taxed an already bankrupt economy where many work in tourism and others rely on travellers to bring in remittances and goods including medicine.
Cuba's government has blamed the demonstrations on U.S.-financed "counter-revolutionaries" exploiting hardships caused by decades-old U.S. sanctions tightened during the pandemic. Several countries and non-government organizations including Oxfam called on Washington to lift sanctions this week.
To be sure, Cuba has had some pandemic successes, notably the development of five vaccine candidates, two of which have proven to have efficacy of more than 90%, according to preliminary Cuban data.
Thanks to one of the highest numbers of doctors per capita rates in the world, it was also able to send its "white coat army" to help other countries, and lately to reinforce hospitals in Matanzas.
Moreover cumulative cases per capita are still below the global average, while deaths per capita, though rising, are still just a third of the global average, a fact Cuba credits to its experimental treatments and its free, universal healthcare.
However, with cases now rising fast, a deepening of Cuba's economic crisis has prevented officials from imposing stricter lockdowns with many Cubans having to stand in lines for hours to get scarce goods.
And so far only some two million people - less than a fifth of the population - are fully vaccinated.
Brazil-based Cuban virologist Amilcar Perez Riverol said that premature triumphal statements from state media about the Cuban vaccine candidates and rallies like Saturday's may have also led to people lowering their guard, creating a breeding ground for cases to soar.
The country has an ambitious aims to have fully vaccinated 70% of the population by September. But Perez Riverol warned that in the next few weeks COVID-19 deaths would likely continue to rise as they lagged the surge in cases.
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