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Panamanian singer-songwriter Rubén Blades said on Monday that recent protests in Cuba “should not come as a surprise”, because it is “natural” that they occur after “more than six decades of a Marxist dictatorship sustained through repression.”
“What surprises me is that there are still absolute defenders of a regime that does not allow its people the opportunity to choose their destiny democratically,” said the also Panamanian actor and former Minister of Tourism.
In a writing in his social networks, the interpreter of “Pedro Navaja” criticized that in the face of the thousands of Cubans who took to the streets on Sunday to protest, “the reaction of the dictatorship in Cuba is to blame the United States and not itself.”
That is “the same tactic used by Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela,” said Blades, who was named Person of the Year 2021 by the Latin Recording Academy on June 2.
Blades, 72, recalled that he has published on his blog “many writings reporting on the tragedy of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela,” and assured that he seeks to “always support the right side of history.”
“Today, in Cuba the Marxists and in the United States the racists, seek to impose their corrupt ideas using violence and lies as their message. In the case of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, we support as always those who demand freedom to express their thoughts, the right to vote and condemn the government repression of their dictatorships,” he said.
Cuba dawned without mobile internet service and with heavy police presence in the streets of Havana a day after thousands of Cubans took to the streets to protest against the dictatorship. The data “blackout” makes it difficult to know for sure what is happening across the island.
For this reason, the image of the day was starred by the dozens of women who gathered in front of police stations such as the one on Zanja Street, in Havana, to inquire about the whereabouts of their husbands, sons and relatives arrested or disappeared during Sunday’s events.
Videos circulating in the networks show the violent repression by Cuban police and agents in civilian clothes, but dictator Diaz-Canel continued denying the facts on Monday.
