TheCable

Thousands of Cubans have taken to the streets to protest economic hardship and call for the resignation of President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

The protest, which has been touted as one of the biggest in the country’s history, started on Sunday in San Antonio de los Baños and Palma Soriano.

Images on social media showed citizens chanting anti-government slogans and demanding coronavirus vaccines and an end to communist rule.

Protesters occupied Havana, the capital city, while chanting “Diaz-Canel step down”, “freedom”, “homeland and life”, and “down with the dictatorship”.

Later on Sunday, Díaz-Canel alleged that the demonstration was triggered by persons paid by the US government to destabilise the country.

“We call upon all the revolutionaries of the country, all the communists, to take to the streets,” he said in a TV broadcast.

Following his call, hundreds of pro-government protesters also took to the streets to air their support for the administration.

The collapse of the economy, restrictions on civil liberties and the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic have been major sources of anger among Cubans in recent times.

In 2020, Cuba, which has been grappling with decades-old US sanctions, had its largely state-controlled economy shrink by 11% as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The president is expected to address the nation again on Monday.