HAVANA, CUBA — Three years ago this month, Cuba erupted in its first widespread anti-government protests in decades, as thousands of Cubans took to the streets to express their frustration with the country’s spiraling economy and deepening political dysfunction.
In response, Cuba’s communist dictatorship cut phone and internet service to prevent news of the protests from spreading and deployed state security agents to arrest more than 1,000 protestors, stifling the protests. (READ MORE: Stop Government Censorship)
But then something extraordinary happened: Despite the government’s crackdown, the protests continued.
Over the last three years, citizens in cities and towns across the island have continued to demonstrate against Cuba’s police state. In March, hundreds of people protested food shortages and power outages in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba’s second-largest city.
Cubans Are Becoming Dissatisfied With Their Government
It may be hard for Americans to appreciate how unusual these protests are. Anti-government protests are a daily occurrence in America. They are protected by your First Amendment and have been a part of the American tradition since before the Republic was founded. Even government officials sometimes take part in them.
However, unauthorized public gatherings are illegal in Cuba and protests are extremely rare. Our unelected, corrupt government officials view every criticism as a threat to their power. I once served three years in prison for flying a Cuban flag upside down to protest Cuba’s lack of freedom. Cuba’s prisons are filled with political prisoners serving long sentences for similar “crimes.” (READ MORE: Former Trump Defense Official Makes the Case for Prioritizing Asia Over Europe)
Cubans are so desperate for a better life that hundreds of our young men have been lured to fight for Russia, where they are treated like cannon fodder in Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. Since 2021, more than half a million Cubans have risked their lives to flee to the United States, a mass exodus representing nearly 5 percent of Cuba’s population. Those who stay are no less determined to make a better life for themselves, even if it means risking arrest and imprisonment.
Indeed, hundreds of protestors have been imprisoned. Justice 11J, a human rights group, documented that nearly 1,900 people were arrested for taking part in the July 2021 protests. Some 800 were still incarcerated as of April. (Overall, more than 1,000 political prisoners remain behind bars.)
Many received years or decades-long sentences for alleged crimes such as “public disorder” or “contempt” — for assembling, banging pots, and chanting anti-regime slogans.
Such draconian prison sentences have continued in recent years. Consider the case of Mayelin Rodriguez Prado, a 22-year-old mother who was jailed with 12 others for participating in a protest in the central Cuban town of Nuevitas in August 2022.
Prado received a 15-year sentence for posting images of the protest on her Facebook page. Those images included the moment when security agents beat three girls and other acts of state violence.
Cuba’s Government Is Cracking Down on Protestors
In 2023, Cuba’s national assembly passed a new 141-page criminal code which Amnesty International has described as containing “a suite of chilling provisions that give the authorities even greater powers to continue smothering freedom of expression and assembly in 2023 and beyond.”
For example, those found guilty of “public disorder,” “resistance” or “contempt” must serve a minimum penalty of six months to one year in prison, rather than three months under the old criminal code. “Insulting national symbols” now carries a penalty of two to five years in prison, rather than three months to a year, as before. The new code also restricts citizens’ ability to express themselves or share information online. (READ MORE: NATO Reporters Want Biden Out)
Most of Cuba’s protestors are not political activists; rather, they are everyday people who simply want access to the necessities of life — food, electricity, basic health care, and the dignity that comes with living a free and self-determined life. Since the 2021 protests, the price of fuel has skyrocketed by 500 percent and food and medicines have become increasingly scarce. That is why the protests have drawn such a wide variety of people, including many women and children.
While most of the protestors are not political activists, they understand that the regime’s communist totalitarian policies are at the root of their country’s problems. “We want light!” and “We are hungry!” are commonly heard slogans at the protests. But so are “Freedom!” “Down with the dictatorship!” and “Long live human rights!”
It has been said that Cubans are losing their fear of the government, but that is not quite right. Cubans still fear their government, but many are acting with courage that the regime will find hard to extinguish.
Courage is not the absence of fear. It is feeling the fear, knowing the risks, and acting anyway. Increasingly, Cubans are summoning the courage necessary to stand up to their oppressors.
Dr. Biscet is a physician and human rights advocate.