Cuba Government Rejects 'Illegal' Anti-Government Protests Next Month

Cuba said Tuesday that anti-government protests planned for Nov. 15 are "illegal" because some have links to "subversive organizations or agencies financed by the US" aiming to change the island's political system.

​​​​​​​The Justice Ministry published a letter on Twitter where the Mayor of Old Havana Alexis Acosta Silva responded to the main organizer of the demonstrations. Silva said he is refusing to allow the protest due to "unconstitutional" and "destabilizing" purposes.

In the letter addressed to playwright Yunior Garcia Aguilera, the promoter of the protests, Silva said that "no legitimacy is recognized in the reasons given for the protests which are 'financed' and "supported' by the United States.

"The promoters and their public displays, as well as the links of some with subversive organizations or agencies financed by the US government have the overt purpose of promoting a change in the political system in Cuba," said the letter. "In addition, as soon as it was announced, the protests received public support from US lawmakers, political operators and media outlets that encourage actions against the Cuban people, attempt to destabilize the country and urge military intervention."

Organizers announced last Friday a change of date for marches originally planned for Nov. 20 to not overlap with National Defense Day which was decreed Thursday by the government.

The government said it would carry out the annual military exercises on the same day groups opposed to the island's government announced they would take to the streets to protest.

This decision by the government comes three months after the country was hit by historic anti-government protests when hundreds were arrested in various cities. Protesters chanted against shortages of food and medicine, price hikes and the government's handling of the pandemic. According to the Cubalex rights group, Cuban forces arrested more than 949 people.

In response to the social unrest, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel blamed the US, calling its tight sanctions on the island a "policy of economic suffocation." -