How Facebook group fuelled wave of protests in Cuba

Cuba: "Tired of being without electricity?" expressed a post in a Facebook group for citizens of the small Cuban town of San Antonio de Los Banos on July 10th. "Tired of listening to the rudeness of a government that does not care about you?"

"It's time to go out and make demands. Do not criticize at home: let them listen to us".

The following day, thousands took to the roads in San Antonio, a city of about 50,000 residents, 30 km (20 miles) southwest of Havana, into the street, and began a rare wave of protests throughout the communist country.

Unrest has escalated in Latin America and the Caribbean as discomfort spreads over COVID-19 closures and rising poverty. But in Cuba, authorities have traditionally strictly controlled public spaces, saying unity is the key to resistance to coup attempts by the old enemy of the Cold War, the United States.

The demonstrations, the most extensive in Cuba following Fidel Castro's revolution in 1959, were largely spontaneous as Cubans dispelled frustration over long queues over food, power outages, drug shortages and the restriction of civil liberties.

However, an investigation by the non-state Cuban outlet El Estornudo - quoted by state television and confirmed by Reuters - recently revealed that the first sit-in was gathered online by a San Antonio community forum for local bodies and those who migrated.

According to one of its three administrators, Alexander Perez in Miami, the Facebook group "City of Humor" - the nickname for San Antonio, which hosts a biennial humour festival - was first created as a social space in 2017.

In time, people also began to express their complaints, says Perez, 44, a pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This incited him and the other administrators, Danilo Roque and Lazaro Gonzalez, to attempt to "educate" them regarding their civil rights and to ask them through nonviolent protests.

Neither Roque nor Gonzalez, who called Perez as two younger men living in San Antonio under pseudonyms to avoid retaliation, responded to requests for comment.

The background shows how the recent expansion of web access in Cuba has been a game changer for promoting social media forums to share and mobilize criticism.

It also shows how the strengthening of relationships with the Cuban diaspora - gratitude to the internet and greater liberty of movement - is affecting the politics of the island at a grassroots level.

Virtual communities such as "The City of Humor" exist nationwide and emigrants warn the local population to continue protesting and expressing solidarity, even by force.

All of this presents a challenge to the government that has allowed relatively unrestricted access to the Internet, unlike China, which hinders many Western social media programs.

Cuba blames the protests on online intervention by counter-revolutionaries backed by the United States, who have openly sought to reform through sanctions and funding for democracy programs for decades.

The administrators of the "City of Humor" got no U.S. funding, nor did they coordinate protest actions with other boroughs, Perez said.

Cuba, where the nation has a monopoly on telecommunications, has been experiencing disruptions to Internet and social media access since July 11, in an apparent attempt to prevent further unrest.

Demonstrations took place within a few days amid the disruptions, a large deployment of security forces and a wave of arrests.

EDUCATION OF CIVIL RIGHTS

Posts in 'The City of Humor' - which rose from around 4,000 to almost 10,000 members following the July 11 demonstrations - show how users do reminders, sell items, promote businesses and complain about local issues such as water supply in the country.

Perez said the administrators chose three years ago to bring the community together to demonstrate on shared grips, with little success.

Last month, they felt the time was ripe to try again.

The global pandemic and tougher US sanctions exacerbated Cuba's economic woes and plunged it into the most profound crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union. And the increase in COVID-19 has pushed its already cracking health infrastructure to the brink.

"We decided it was the moment," Perez said.

According to three San Antonio residents who requested anonymity, the announcement of the protest at the church park at 11 a.m. is spread by word-of-mouth and messages.

But Perez said he had such a low expectation that someone would show up to go to the beach that day. He was stunned when he called that the early rise snowball.

"We certainly never thought San Antonio would be the spark that ignited the flame that caused Cuba to hit the streets three hours later," he said.

Videos on social media show protesters in San Antonio shouting slogans against the government, such as 'freedom' and 'we are not afraid'.

"My city has come into force because it just can no longer," said one resident, requesting anonymity.

Within hours, President Miguel Diaz -Canel himself appeared in an attempt - he later said in a televised speech to the nation - to show "the streets belong to revolutionaries".

Some videos on social media showed that he was uncomfortable, but the unrest there and elsewhere quickly subsided amid a collapse.

Perez said a robust security presence in San Antonio means the Cubans will have to wait their time until another protest march takes place.

But it was noteworthy, he said, that the administration had already implemented reforms, such as lifting customs restrictions on travelers bringing in medicine and food in response to the protests.

"If we manage to achieve this within a few hours of protest," he wonders, "what occurs if we spend three days in the roads?"