Is Cuba becoming kinder, gentler toward demonstrators, or weaker and more hypocritical? | Opinion
The Cuban government faced another wave of protests last month as citizens took to the streets to voice their frustrations over food shortages, power and freedom.
At least that’s what the outside world saw from an anonymous Facebook page and other snippets of a cellphone video that made it out of the island showing the March 17 demonstrations.
Something interesting happened to the peaceful demonstrators: Nothing.
The videos had shown people chanting on the streets of Santiago de Cuba, which happens to be the home of the start of Cuba’s 1959 revolution.
“We’re hungry! We need electricity!” Others chanted “Patria y Vida,” alluding to the July 2021 demonstrations where that catchphrase became famous and spawned a hit song. The incident embarrassed the Cuban government internationally.
In some ways, Cuba did what it always does when dissension breaks out: It shut down the internet. No more videos leaked out. Now we’re in April and all seems quiet inside Cuba. But is that calm real?
There is no evidence of the typical crackdown from Cuba’s secret and street police against demonstrators. There were no reported or visible clashes like the ones the 2021 demonstrators encountered. Back then, hundreds were jailed and sentenced to as much as 20 years for betraying the revolution.
Is Cuba trying a new tactic with dissenters? Or, as some observers believe, is the Cuban regime so crippled by the country’s economic ailments that it no longer has the capacity to shut down anything? These protests, it appears, were allowed to run their course without using lethal force on demonstrators. Very unusual.
From our seat in Miami, this is new. Is it a new tactic or ploy formed out of necessity?
Some Cuba experts in exile believe the Cuban government and its revolution are on their final legs as they enter their senior citizen years at 65. The regime does not seem like its old self. Dare we say the government seemed to be more tolerant, almost understanding of the protesters.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel last month said on YouTube that he understood demonstrators were ”upset” about the shortages, but said the protesters’ anger was aimed at the U.S., not his government. He also announced the creation of a sort of fireside chat radio show where citizens can ask him questions. The idea is to improve communications between the government and the people. The Cuban people are not disenchanted with the promise of the revolution, he insisted. A very clever twist.
Government officials told the demonstrators that help was on the way in the form of United Nations donated milk, which the island requested for the first in the regime’s history.
Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, coordinator of the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, said the Patria y Vida demonstrators have had a lasting impact.
“The conscience of nonviolent struggle is developing quickly and organically inside Cuba,” Gutiérrez Boronat told the Herald Editorial Board. “And the government is reacting and trying to maintain its power by agreeing that things are bad in Cuba, but they are not to blame; America is.”
The muted reaction shows the regime understands the international condemnation that would follow another brutal crackdown on dissent. How can you punish people who are begging for food?
For this, the Patria y Vida demonstrators should be praised for forcing the government to apparently ease up on the head-bashing of dissenters.
Cuban leaders must be banking that simply allowing people to voice frustrations can release pressures that might otherwise boil over in the streets. Appearing to understand their pain could help the regime last longer, or simply survive this delicate phase. But, ultimately, addressing the roots of discontent — a failing economy and shortages of food and power — through a democratic opening remains the goal for a long-term solution for Cuba.
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