#cuban protests

I just can't get over how disgusting it is to see the Black Lives Matter organization on Instagram basically excuse the Cuban dictatorship of any kind of responsibility in the situation of Cuba and Cubans.

It is even more unnacceptable to me, as a venezuelan who's lived through something similar for 20 of my 28 years (cubans have gone through this for 61 years), knowing fully well that the accounts of police brutality are real.

Black Lives Matter condemns police brutality when it happens in the US, but as soon as it happens in Cuba they're ok with it? Then its fine?

It's been 60+ years of sanctions imposed on Cuba by the US Government. The blockade has continued and been intensified thanks to the pandemic, making it harder for the cuban government to get the basic necessities needed to treat the pandemic.

Cuba has public healthcare and has managed to develop her own vaccine and wants to vaccinate the world!

The reason why they are struggling atm is because- due to the US embargo- they cannot get their hands on enough syringes

The combination of the blockade and the pandemic has created objectively difficult conditions in Cuba.

There were anti-government protests in Cuba today, counting about just a few hundred partecipants. A much bigger crowd also took to the street, chanting things like 'yo soy Fidel'.

Now please think. If the US cared about the shortages in Cuba they could simply lift the blockade and end them overnight. What we are not gonna do is advocate for United States intervantion any-fucking where else outside of the United States' own colonizer state borders.

Hello everyone! As some of you might know, I was born in Cuba and grew up there. I’ve been seeing a lot of opinions from non-Cubans that I believe to be based on very false information, so I will share something I shared on my personal instagram. For the record, I am a liberal, I am a pretty strong believer of socialism, and I am disgusted at the way republicans are exploiting this for their benefit. I will also state that no, Cuba isn’t a paradise and we don’t have more guaranteed human rights than American as I’ve seen other people state. Having lived in America for 9 years now, I can say that non-Cubans who defend the Cuban regime here have no idea what they’re talking about. Also, I am in no way denying the role that the US has played in the way Cuba is today, but I can let you all know that the US is the least of our concerns rn. Anyways, here is what I wrote:

I have been seeing a bunch of non-Cubans saying that people in Cuba are “happy with their communism” and/or that what’s going on in Cuba was caused by the US/is sponsored by the CIA, and here is some rly great life advice: don’t talk about stuff you know nothing about :). I was born in Cuba, lived a portion of my life there, and have most of my family on the island still. I can tell you with 100% certainty that Cubans are not happy with the regime. I grew up with my mom constantly worrying about not having enough food to feed me. Rations were not enough, and it was too expensive to buy food elsewhere. Both of my parents are college graduates; they had good jobs with what was considered “good” salaries, but they still couldn’t afford the high cost of food that came as a result of food shortages. The situation in Cuba today is much worse than that. The government opened up shops in currencies that the average Cuban does not possess and sent most food there, making it inaccessible to most people. Pharmacies are empty, my grandma is deteriorating rapidly because she cannot get the medicine she needs for her autoimmune disease. Hospital conditions are dire with doctors having to reuse decades old equipment, including latex gloves meant to be single use. They spend millions building hotels and things for tourists to enjoy while the buildings in Havana are crumbling on its residents. They send doctors abroad in mandatory so called “missions” (which are just a form of modern slavery, as the government makes millions off of them, but the doctors barely see a penny) while the country suffers from a shortage of doctors in the middle of a pandemic. Our healthcare system is crumbling faster than ever. There is no freedom of speech; people who speak up against the government are detained, some just disappear. People are starving. The government violates the human rights of my people on a daily basis and people continue to praise them for the lies they sell to the rest of the world. The Cuban government doesn’t care about us and they never have, so don’t you dare come in here and try to spread lies about my own country and my own people. It makes me want to scream in agony to see our voices and pain dismissed by people who have never experienced our suffering. 

To the republicans using this as fuel for right wing propaganda: fuck you. The suffering of my people is not for you to exploit for the benefit of your agenda. It is not for dismissing America’s own problems, and it is most definitely NOT for gaslighting the millions of BIPOC and LQBTQ+ who are oppressed in the US. Just because a country’s problems aren’t as grave as those of another doesn’t mean their problems don’t matter, so stop acting like there is no oppression in America.

I am happy to expand on any of these things for anyone who wants to know more.

if you’re gonna talk about Cuba, watch this

https://www.instagram.com/p/CRYawauDBpS/?utm_medium=share_sheet