The Different Narratives Surrounding The Cuban Protests

Depending on who you ask, you’ll get a different explanation of what’s going on in Cuba. Where does the truth lie?

During the White House press briefing on July 12th (the first press briefing since the start of the Cuban protests on the 11th), journalists asked questions from the position that Cuba was protesting for vaccines first, and then everything else, like freedom - which to them is less important than vaccines:

“The President - we saw the President’s statement today about the demonstrations there on the island yesterday.  Two questions on that.  But why hasn’t President Biden taken steps to undo some of the things that his predecessor, Donald Trump, did to overturn the overtures made by President Obama? And then, secondly, we heard there’s a - obviously, a great cry yesterday - or during these protests for vaccines.  [Is] Cuba - on the list to get vaccines from the United States?”

Call this an example of shining journalistic integrity (or lack thereof, if you don’t find the sarcasm funny). They peddle two narratives with this - the idea that Cuba is suffering because of the US embargo (which still allows for humanitarian goods, like food and medicine), rather than communism; and the idea that the protests are firstly because of vaccines, with everything else being secondary.

This isn’t the only instance of different narratives circulating around the story. If the truth can’t be found somewhere across some, or all interpretations, we can at least see what different people are trying to sell to their consumers.

In a nutshell, the left largely seems to believe that Cuba is the way it is because of the United States. The Cuban economy was prosperous up until the inhumane embargo. BLM’s statement on Instagram consists of this exactly.

“Since 1962 the United States has forced pain and suffering on the people of Cuba by cutting off food medicine and supplies, costing the tiny island nation an estimated $130 billion.” They peddle lies blatantly.

It is true that companies may be disincentivized to do business with Cuba. And according to the US Department of State, they seek to “[restrict] economic practices that disproportionately benefit the Cuban government or its military, intelligence, or security agencies at the expense of the Cuban people.” But this contradicts the viewpoint that Cuba is a utopia, where people aren’t hurt, where they don’t suffer. After all, the protests are due to no vaccines thanks to the big, bad US. At least, that’s what BLM and other pro-socialist and pro-communist individuals would like you to believe.

The truth is, the history behind Cuba is far more involved than “the embargo ruined everything.” 

Fidel Castro, who would plunge the nation into the state we see it in today, came of age during Fulgencio Batista’s rise to power. Once a respected president, Batista was credited with bettering the Cuban education system and fostering the economy’s growth, but he seized power by force after his turn as president ended, with the support of the Cuban people and the military. 

To their disappointment, he wouldn’t return as a benevolent leader with Cuba’s best interest in mind: Batista seized control of the press, universities, and congress, and embezzled large amounts of money for himself. In the context of the current narrative, his name is thrown around by pro-socialists and communists as a bolster to their argument. “Why complain about Castro and not Batista?”

After Batista's takeover, he sought only to serve himself. Because of this, it was easy for Fidel Castro to gain wide support from the Cuban people. He was effective with propaganda that was in favor of his rebel forces and was able to foster a formidable force - enough to drive Batista to leave the country.

Castro initially seemed to have the best intentions for Cuba, when he became essentially the head of the government. He wanted to create an honest administration, reinstate the 1940 Constitution (which guaranteed freedom of expression and the right to be secure in your own home), and reinstate civil liberties. But in time, his goals would turn more and more radical. The thing is, Castro always leaned radical since he was young. Cuba exchanged one dictator for another.

Castro nationalized Cuba’s private commerce, introduced land reform, and began to instate other policies and hostile rhetoric towards the United States, one of its nearest potential trade partners. Castro decried capitalism and further deepened distrust between the US and Cuba when he allied with the Soviet Union in the 1960s. In what world does it make sense to trade with a nation that actively hates you and wishes to act against you? It would be on some level of equivalency, for Black Lives Matter to trade and have a relationship with neo-Nazis.

As he issued one-party control over Cuba, Castro slowly made himself and his regime the sole perpetrators to blame for the demise of Cuba. But again, those on the left don’t see that, or refuse to. If one of their most beloved beliefs is that socialism is ultimately what is best for humanity, it must be near impossible to acknowledge a reality that contradicts that. If Castro merch - T-shirts, mugs, stickers, phone cases - exist, there’s a market for them. It largely consists of American youths disenchanted with their life, the path they’re on, or some combination of the two, who want to believe in something that can save them, or at least help them believe that they aren’t all to blame.

With the Overton window shifting more and more left, legacy media and celebrities echo similar, albeit diluted sentiments. Celebrities openly support socialism, even when recognizing the human rights abuses caused at the hands of that ideology. Some peddle back and say that their idea of socialism - sharing and caring for others - cannot be disagreed with. It seems in a way, like flirting with the ideology. Such ideas were expressed specifically by Stranger Things star David Harbour, who recently portrayed Red Guardian in Black Widow, who is the Soviet Union’s equivalent of Captain America. Athlete Colin Kaepernick wore a shirt with Fidel Castro while lecturing an audience on the oppression while living in the United States.

Cuban-American celebrities are also either silent or expressive in their support of the recent protests, and those that are expressive run the risk of facing quite the criticism. Singer Camila Cabello voiced her support, without directly decrying communism. “Deaths from COVID are rising rapidly and because of the lack of medicine, resources, basic necessities and even, food many people are dying … Our brave people took the streets to protest for this humanitarian crisis and the people of Cuba need our help urgently.” While she doesn’t explicitly cite the embargo, this sort of caption lends itself to portray Cabello as blaming the embargo more than the communist government. Meanwhile, celebrities like Eva Mendez, Gloria Estefan, Pitbull, and Jorge Masvidal, explicitly protest against the Cuban government as well. The latter two describe their family’s stories of fleeing from communism in Cuba.

A large part of the legacy media machine feeds the idea that communism and socialism aren’t that bad. Celebrities and athletes flirt with the ideas, decrying capitalism and the United States before communism or any communist nations. “Academics” (or at least, those propped up by the media) also celebrate Cuba. Author of the 1619 Project Nikole Hannah-Jones called Cuba “the most equal, multiracial country in our hemisphere.” Think about that for a moment. If her project was supported by the New York Times, and propped up in some schools, it’s not like her opinion is regarded as fringe or out-there. 

Meanwhile, there is other news surrounding what’s going on in Cuba. Some of it I didn’t hear about unless I went searching by my own volition.

Miguel Díaz-Canel, secretary-general of the Communist Party in Cuba and current President, called upon “all the revolutionaries of the country, all the Communists” to go out, wherever the protestors may be, and contain them. While Trump got banned from nearly all, if not every single platform (for what, again?), Díaz-Canel remains on Twitter. Footage of this was found via a Latin American news source, though I never saw big-name legacy news outlets in the states describe this exactly. While the situation is presented as tense, I don’t think it was very common to hear reports describing protestors shouting clearly, “down with Castro, down with the communist dogs.”

Local source Telemundo reports at least one death and 120 disappearances in the Cuban protests. Meanwhile, this isn’t widely reported on in the mainstream. And the story doesn’t stop there - they show footage of relatives of the victims. A woman is shown saying “they just killed my nephew, pulling out his teeth, throwing him at the dogs, they beat him.”

Separate footage shows a man, whose brother was just killed in Cuba. “They massacred him,” says the man. “They beat him, they pulled out his eyes, his teeth. They will pay.” 

In the mainstream news, there’s little wide-spread reporting, if any at all. Some articles from The Guardian, but they don’t make much mention of this violence. It’s one thing to say “this is one event in the world, out of many tragic ones,” but given that these protests are the first demonstrations against the regime in decades, and that it proves wrong so many American youths and politicians, there’s something interesting with the kind of coverage, and the amount of it.

For those who would say such claims can’t be verified, with little coming out of the country in terms of footage and opinion from those directly on the ground, that sentiment would be funny if it weren’t so sad. The news has a history of taking off running with narratives far less concrete, far less verifiable, than what we’re seeing coming out of Cuba right now.

Luna Salinas is a US-based contributor for Lotuseaters.com with a focus on culture and society, and how they directly influence politics. She turned to writing in order to join the fight against misinformation, and in order to provide a voice that perhaps other young women could relate to. Her favorite drink is either pinot noir or whiskey, and her favorite view is one with mountains and forests.