Five arrested in Cuba after protest at local Communist party office | Cuba
Five people were arrested for acts of “vandalism” in Cuba after a small group of protesters broke into the provincial office of the Cuban Communist Party and set fire to computers and furniture.
The incident, which also affected a pharmacy and another shop, took place in the town of Moron, 500 kilometers east of Havana.
Videos shared on social media show protesters ransacking the office, removing documents, equipment and furniture and burning everything on the street. A smaller group also threw stones.
“What started peacefully after a meeting with officials in the area turned into vandalism against the headquarters of the municipal committee of the Communist party,” state newspaper Invasor said. It was stated that five people were detained.
While protests are rare in Cuba, the country endures a U.S. oil blockade and other intense pressure from U.S. president Donald Trump, who has made clear in Havana that he wants to see regime change.
Recently, people have started banging pots and pans on the street or in their homes at night to vent their frustration and discontent over food and medicine shortages.
Residents also complain of frequent power outages that can last up to 15 hours a day.
Independent media and social media posts say that Havana is at the center of the protests that have taken place in recent nights, but that the protests have spread to other parts of the country.
On Friday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel confirmed that he was holding talks with the US government for the first time.
Díaz-Canel stated that no oil shipments had reached Cuba in the last three months and blamed the US oil blockade for this. He said the island is powered by a mix of natural gas, solar power and thermoelectric plants.
Trump said the next issue on his agenda would be Cuba, following the Iran war and the US’s ouster of Cuba’s biggest ally, Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro, in January.
Cuba relied on Venezuela for oil, and Trump, who says he effectively rules Caracas, cut off the supply.
The oil embargo brought Cuba’s already troubled economy to the brink of collapse.
The Republican leader placed the impoverished island under a U.S. oil blockade, choking the island’s fuel supplies based on what he called the “extraordinary threat” posed by Cuba to the United States.
This comes on top of a six-decade-long US trade embargo.
