Cuba in crisis – protests against power outages and supply shortages Putin warns of World War III – and talks about Navalny

Scores of Cubans have taken to the streets against frequent power outages and food shortages on the socialist Caribbean island.

In the city of Santiago de Cuba in the east of the country, they chanted “electricity and food,” “we are hungry” and “freedom” on Sunday (local time), as the anti-government news platform “14 y medio” reported. .

The government in Havana recognized the protests, but accused the demonstrators of trying to destabilize the country. “Several people have expressed their anger about the supply of electricity and food,” President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on news platform X, formerly Twitter. “The enemies of the revolution want to take advantage of this to destabilize.”

Cuba is in one of the worst economic crises since the Fidel Castro revolution in 1959. In addition to the trade embargo from neighboring US, which has been in place for more than sixty years, there is also the collapse of tourism during the corona pandemic and the support of ally Venezuela due to its own crisis decreased.

Attempts by the Cuban government to reform the inefficient economic system have so far been timid. There is high inflation.

Food, medicine and fuel, among other things, are scarce in Cuba and electricity often goes out for extended periods of time. According to the current exchange rate, an average monthly wage is less than 15 euros. Since 2022, about four percent of the approximately eleven million inhabitants of the Caribbean country have emigrated. (sda/dpa)