From Cuba, with VPN · Global Voices
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This story was originally written by Geisy Guia Delis for the Cuban media site Periodismo de Barrio and was edited by Global Voices.
I was able to see the first video on Twitter on Sunday morning, July 11, at 11 o'clock: a group of 20 people banging on pans in the middle of a nighttime power blackout, in a place that looked like Holguín. The video lasted only 10 seconds, but I played it several times. Shortly after, live transmissions of hundreds of people in the streets of San Antonio de los Baños, Artemisa province, went viral on Facebook. The cries of “Freedom!”, “We are not afraid!” and “Down with the dictatorship!” were as shocking as they were implausible. I needed some time to convince myself that all this was real.
On July 11, thousands of Cubans across the island joined the largest protests in decades against Cuba's communist government, during which dozens of people were arrested. They protested the lack of food and medicine as the country faces a severe economic crisis worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and the U.S. embargo.
