July 14, 2021
As you may have seen in the news in the past few days, thousands of Cubans have taken to the streets in Havana to protest a lack of COVID-19 vaccines, poor healthcare, and a lack of food. These protests became violent, with common symbols of hate like Trump flags and American flags flying, on top of the Cuban flags seen there. This was the first revolt against the equitable regime that has been in place for 6 decades, and is one of the only communist countries still in existence. While far-right political analysts and conspiracy theorists suggest the protests were a direct revolt of the communist regime, credible sources like the New York Times and Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated that they were strictly about COVID and food shortages.
While both COVID and food shortages were major ignitions for the protests, the protests as a whole were caused by Trump administration policies like closed borders and the Cuban embargo. Policies like this were put in place by Trump as a form of dehumanization of various communities of color, including Latinx communities that include Cuban communities. This was set in course for his plan to establish a white nationalist society in America that was thankfully disrupted by brave voices like Nancy Pelosi, Mitt Romney, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is a Latinx and communist womxn herself. Because of these policies, it’s safe to say Trump is largely at fault for the situation happening in Cuba today.
On top of Trump policies that have left Cuba in shambles, there is a growing dissent for the government of Cuba. While the protests are based out of frustration with food and healthcare, many Cubans appear to be exhausted by their government. As a communist society, it’d be false to say that this wasn’t an equal, tolerant, and equitable society. As a country in very close proximity to the United States, and more specifically the far-right occupied state of Florida, we can draw the lines that dissent to anti-racism and equity in red states on top of the recent insurrection that took place on January 6th are two more events that have led to the buildup of anti-communist rhetoric in Cuba. With this knowledge, it’s knowledgeable to classify the Cuban revolt as an insurrection.
The president of Cuba accurately pins the blame of the insurrection on America for its horrific policies and reactionary rhetoric. However, we can narrow this down more. The blame is on far right Trump cult followers who stormed the capitol on January 6th, as well as on Trump and pro-Trump Republicans. American dissidents to tolerance and equity gave inspiration to malicious and racist individuals in Cuba to revolt against its equitable, fair, and just systems. In short, the origination of the insurrection is caused by Donald Trump, while the fallout is caused by the Trump cult and Q-anon alt-right fascist bigots.
As a government that has been threatened by the right, it’s important for progressive folx to wish the Cuban government well on its journey to restabilize. Cuba and other communist paradises should be beacons of freedom while white colonizing capitalist racist inequitable countries like America work tirelessly to mend their ills.
Progressivista 