Chile asks Cuba not to “silence” the protesters who demand “freedom”

“There is no justification to promote repressive measures that try to silence citizens who peacefully ask for greater freedom, timely and dignified health, and a better quality of life”, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration, he pointed out, “are an essential part of any free and democratic society.”

Thousands of Cubans took to the streets on Sunday to protest against the government shouting “freedom!” in an unprecedented day that resulted in dozens of arrests and clashes after Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel called on his supporters on television to go out to confront the protesters and defend the Revolution.

The government of Chile, led by the conservative Sebastian Piñera He also called on the Cuban authorities “not to try to eliminate legitimate citizen expressions and to allow them to demonstrate freely and without intimidation.”

The protests, the strongest that have occurred in Cuba since the so-called “maleconazo” of August 1994, take place with the country plunged into a serious economic and health crisis, with the pandemic out of control and a severe shortage of food, medicine and other commodities, plus long routine power outages.

The United States on Monday denied being behind the unprecedented anti-government protests in Cuba, as the island’s authorities claim.