Cuban government rallies supporters after protests

HAVANA — Cuban officials rallied tens of thousands of supporters in the streets on Saturday nearly a week after they were stunned by the most widespread protests in decades.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel, accompanied by 90-year-old former president Raul Castro, appeared on the seafront Malecon boulevard that had seen some of the largest protests against shortages and the political system last weekend.

Díaz-Canel made an impassioned speech, blaming unrest on the U.S. and its economic embargo, “the blockade, aggression and terror,” as a crowd waved Cuban flags and those of the July 26 Movement that Fidel Castro led during Cuba’s revolution. “The enemy has returned to throw all it has at destroying the sacred unity and tranquility of the citizens,” Díaz-Canel said.

He ended without the traditional cry of “Homeland or Death,” a slogan mocked last week by protesters shouting: “Homeland and life.”

Havana has been returning to normal in recent days, even if mobile internet service, which authorities cut on Sunday, remained limited.

Abel Alba, a 50-year-old civil engineer, said: “There is political and social erosion. The president has tried to smooth things over a bit,” but he waited “too long” to listen to the demands of the people in the streets, Alba said.

Last Sunday, thousands of Cubans marched along the Malecon and elsewhere to protest food and medicine shortages, power outages and some even calling for political change. Smaller protests continued on Monday and Tuesday.

Díaz-Canel initially responded by pointing to U.S. economic sanctions, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and a social media campaign by Cuban American groups. But he later acknowledged some responsibility by Cuba’s leaders.