Outside agitators? Is that really what the new-ish Cuban president said? It reminds us of the Old South and the bad old days when civil rights protests were shrugged off in the 1950s-'60s. After all, many imagined, it was only outside agitators trying to stir up trouble on "our" streets. Funny, but when the streets were filled with those demanding their rights, a lot of local faces walked by.
The Cuban people erupted over the weekend, taking to the streets, agitating about their own concerns, including food shortages, power outages, and high prices amid the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. As the rest of the world awakens, partially, and various economies begin to gain traction, Cuba is going through what has been called the worst economic crisis in years, maybe decades.
An economic crisis in a centrally controlled economy in a communist state is not rare. What is rare, however, is any kind of protest on the streets of Cuba. The Castro Bros. & Co. knew how to handle that sort of thing. President Miguel Diaz-Canel hasn't mastered the finer points of brutality just yet.
But he's trying.
While accusing the United States of provoking unrest in his country--he says U.S. mercenaries manufactured all those anti-government protests--Senor Diaz-Canel sicced police on the protesters. Dozens were arrested (that the world knows about). The government shut down the Internet, so it's difficult to know exactly what's going on. The Wall Street Journal reports that the government has been "supplementing police forces with violent groups of regime supporters" to shut down the protests. President Diaz-Canel has called for "all the revolutionaries of the country, all the communists, to take to the streets" in support of his government. The president seemed to think that Napoleon's "whiff of grapeshot" would calm things down. Not to mention a whiff of tear gas.
But Cuba's problems run deep. Arresting a few dozen or even a few hundred upset citizens won't solve them. The pandemic stopped travel and tourism in its tracks for more than a year. Even the Cuban government admitted its economy shrank by 11 percent in the last year. Now that covid-19 is making a comeback in Cuba amidst a shortage of vaccines there, things don't look to improve. And once the pandemic is under control, there are other underlying problems:
Venezuela is in tatters, economically and otherwise. The two countries traded oil for military support for years. Now Venezuela's oil has dried up under its own government, and Cuba suffers. The United States' trade embargo will continue until Congress and the American people see real reforms now that the Castro Bros. have left the stage. So far, that doesn't appear to be in the works.
So the Cuban people protest. ¡Libertad! they shout.
Liberty-loving people all over, and not just in this country, should help them with their wish. If that becomes real outside agitation, it's for a good cause.