Miguel Diaz-Canel on Saturday denounced what he said was a false narrative over unrest on the Caribbean island, speaking during a rally alongside ex-president Raul Castro and before thousands of supporters in Havana.
“What the world is seeing of Cuba is a lie,” Diaz-Canel said. He decried what he said was the dissemination of “false images” on social networks that “encourage and glorify the outrage and destruction of property.
Diaz-Canel’s comments come days after historic demonstrations against the communist government. On July 11 and 12, thousands of Cubans took to the streets in 40 cities around the island shouting “Freedom,” “Down with the dictatorship,” and “We’re hungry.
One person has died and more than 100 have been arrested, including independent journalists and opposition activists, since the protests broke out over the worst economic crisis in decades.
There is an “overflowing hatred on social networks,” the president insisted on Saturday. Cuba cut off internet access on the island from Sunday for three days after the protests erupted last weekend.
It restored access on Wednesday, but social media and messaging apps such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter remained blocked on 3G and 4G networks. Social media is the only way Cubans can reach independent news outlets while messaging apps are their main means of communicating among themselves.
US President Joe Biden has said Washington is considering ways to ease internet restrictions, though analysts have warned it could be tricky for technological and political reasons.
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Source: Aljazeera