Angry cries of ‘freedom!’ (‘libertad!’) and ‘Fatherland and life’ (‘Patria y Vida’) – a play on Fidel Castro’s revolutionary slogan, ‘Fatherland or Death’ – could be heard across Cuba throughout March, as hundreds took to the streets of several cities to voice their rage at the country’s severe lack of food and electricity.
The protests came at a difficult time for the government of President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who has been in office since 2019. In February, Díaz-Canel dismissed his close ally, Alejandro Gil, as minister of economy and in an official note in March accused him of corruption. As is often the case in Cuba, where the official press carries the government line and independent media is censored and persecuted, no one has revealed the nature of this corruption.
Díaz-Canel may have hoped Gil’s dismissal would quell the growing discontent, but weeks later, on 1 March, the government-approved 500% rise in petrol prices came into effect. While in office, Gil had said the government could no longer subsidise fuel due to the need to reduce the deficit.
