(Havana) “Down with the Yankees! Thousands of Cuban government supporters rallied on Saturday, six days after historic protests against the authorities.
“We were born to win, not to win! , Shouted at a crowd gathered in Malegaon, a coastal area of Havana, and declared its readiness to support its president no matter what it was.
The rally, commemorating the “anti-imperialist” rallies organized during Fidel Castro’s tenure, was the first public event in response to the July 11 protests that rocked Cuba in more than 50 cities and villages, resulting in the deaths, dozens of injuries and more than a hundred arrests.
Summoned at dawn, especially through work centers and universities, several thousand people carrying the Cuban flag and praising the July 26 movement (created by Fidel during the revolution) President Miguel Diaz-Colonel and his predecessor, Raul Castro, in the uniform of his general.
Photo Yamil Lodge, France-Press Agency
Miguel Diaz-Colonel and Raul Castro
The 90-year-old, who led the revolution with his brother in 1959, officially retired in April and had to temporarily give up the status quo.
“Those who felt something for the revolution, those who felt something for the fiddle, for everything he has done in this country, for what needs to be done consistently, for what Raoul’s existence means,” replied Carlos Cruz, 65, who has retired.
“Lie”
The meeting came at the worst possible time of the corona virus outbreak in Cuba: the island, home to 11.2 million people, reported 6,062 cases, including 52 deaths, in the last 24 hours, for a total of 275,608 cases and 1,843 deaths.
“With or without an epidemic, we need to protect it [la Révolution] We are here, we are protecting ourselves, be careful, because we need to protect our own extra, ”said Hector Roman, a 73-year-old schoolteacher who wears a mask over his face.
In his speech, President Diaz-Colonel denounced the “growing hatred on social media”: “It is a lie to see the world from Cuba.”
Spreading “false images” via the internet “promotes and glorifies the fury and destruction of property”, while mobile internet access on the island was reduced from noon Sunday to Wednesday morning, before being restored, but unstable.
In Cuba, he promised, “This is not a question of a government repressing its people.” Several photos and videos showed police beating protesters, some of whom were rapists.
Photo by Alexandre Menakini, REUTERS
The rally, commemorating the “anti-imperialist” rallies organized under Fidel Castro, was the first public event in response to the July 11 protests that rocked Cuba in more than 50 cities and villages.
“No lie was made accidentally or by mistake, this is a cold calculation of an unusual war manual,” the president added, accusing the United States of provoking the July 11 protests.
Because these films have “caused immeasurable damage to the national psyche”.
“They wanted to separate us”
Shortly before the rally began, a man shouted “Patria y Vida”, the title of an anti-rap song that became the song of anti-government protesters on July 11 and was arrested by police, AFP reporters noted.
“We have the right to defend our revolution, and [Diaz-Canel] That said around the world [la révolution], No one threw it out, 41-year-old school principal Madeleine Riggles announced among assembled supporters.
Gerardo Hernandez, MP, who was invited to the rostrum. And Cuban spies imprisoned in the United States, one of the “five heroes of Cuba”, also denounced the facts of recent days.
“They attacked us from everywhere, and worse than that, they wanted to separate us,” he said, regretting being the national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) and for setting up surveillance and control at each level. District.
“They wanted to destroy the peace of our surroundings, they wanted to destroy our peace,” he assured, however, “that no one is the enemy of revolution to think differently.”
According to the official press GranmaSimilar meetings were held in other cities of the country, such as Santiago de Cuba, Pyamo, Camage and Santa Clara.
“Cuba belongs to everyone” was announced daily Saturday morning, although one of the streets warned that “no criminals or militants” would be allowed to join Cuba in the United States.
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