Anti-government protests erupted in Cuba on Sunday demanding freedom and calling for the dismantling of the country’s communist dictatorship, while some of America’s most outspoken and self-proclaimed democratic socialists appear to be at the same level in failing to recognize historical events which take place on the island about 90 miles from Florida.
Fox News has emailed Reps Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Sen. Bernie Sanders and has yet to receive a response from any of them. As of Monday morning, no one had even mentioned the protest on social media.
Thousands of Cubans marched on Havana’s Malecon promenade and elsewhere to protest food shortages, high prices and the coronavirus outbreak during one of the country’s largest anti-government protests.
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The police were initially left behind as the demonstrators chanted “Freedom”, “Enough” and “Unite”. A motorcyclist pulled out an American flag, but it was ripped off by others.
The Biden administration has been criticized on social media for appearing to struggle to find its place in how to respond to the protests.
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Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla, slammed the State Department for a tweet that attributed the protest to concerns over COVID-19 and not to the worsening economic situation or to protesters chanting “We want freedom”.
“People in Cuba are protesting 62 years of socialism, lies, tyranny and misery without ‘expressing concern over the increase in COVID-19 cases / deaths. Why is it so difficult for @Potus and the members of his administration to say that? ” Rubio tweeted.
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Critics will likely say that these Democratic Socialists remain silent at the start of the protests because there are so many unknowns. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who heads the Communist Party, has already called on the country’s revolutionaries to counter the protesters.
“We are ready for anything,” he said during a national speech. “We are going to fight in the streets.”
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He continued, “We call on all revolutionaries in the country, all communists, to take to the streets wherever there is an effort to produce these provocations.
Jake Sullivan, the White House National Security Advisor, said on Twitter that “the United States supports freedom of speech and assembly in Cuba and would strongly condemn any violence or targeting of peaceful protesters exercising their universal rights “.
There has been a difficult relationship between Cuban Americans and the far left of the Democratic Party. Ocasio-Cortez once took to Twitter to defend “progressivism” against claims that some of the politicians sent minority voters to the Republican column in 2020.
The democratic socialist tweeted“But honestly, as far as Latinos are concerned, the party just never made a serious effort,” apparently referring to the Democratic Party. “Mexicans, Central Am, Caribbean, Chicano – Cubans aren’t the only impt community.”
The Trump administration has won favor with a bloc of Cuban-American voters who support his hard-line stance on Cuba after abandoning diplomatic attempts negotiated under former President Barack Obama, reimposing economic sanctions and tightening travel restrictions that were relaxed under Obama.
The National Review reported that these lawmakers had never even denounced Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described Maduro as a “brutal dictator” and promised to continue to recognize opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the legitimate leader of Venezuela – a position shared by more than 50 nations.
In 2019, Omar, Minnesota, went so far as to accuse the US government of carrying out a coup against Maduro.
Sanders, I-Vt., Has previously championed some of the policies of former Cuban communist dictator Fidel Castro.
After his victory in the Nevada caucus in the 2020 Democratic primary, Anderson Cooper asked Sanders during an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” why the Cuban people did not rise up and help them. United States to overthrow the Castro regime. Sanders replied that the dictator “educated their children, gave them health care, totally transformed society.”
“We are very, very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba but you know, it is unfair to just say that everything is wrong,” Sanders said. “You know? When Fidel Castro came to power you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did?”
Republicans took to social media to support the protesters in their efforts.
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Senator Ted Cruz, son of a Cuban immigrant, took to Twitter on Sunday in support of the thousands of demonstrators.
Cruz reposted a video which claimed to show dozens of them in front of the Communist Party headquarters and claimed that the current regime would be “put back in the dustbin of history”.
“It brutalized and denied freedom to generations of Cubans, and forced my family and so many others to flee,” he tweeted. “The American people stand firmly with the men and women of Cuba and their noble struggle for freedom.”
Lucas Manfredi of Fox News and Associated Press contributed to this report