Comment HAVANA — A year after the biggest protests in decades that rocked Cuba’s one-party government, hundreds of people who took part are in prison and the economic and political drivers that fueled the protests remain largely intact. Streets and public squares were filled with protesters on July 11 and 12, 2021, some responding to social media calls, others joining spontaneously to express their frustration over shortages, long lines and a lack of political options. Since then, a few things have changed: The Communist Party government has made the most expansive—if still limited—opening to private enterprise in six decades, empowering small and medium-sized companies. And the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed a gradual revival of the critical tourism industry. But the overall economy remains dire, with queues and skyrocketing prices for scarce goods. This fueled a huge increase in immigration, mainly to the United States. And the economy remains squeezed by US sanctions. While US President Joe Biden has eased some, such as allowing US residents to send more money to Cuban relatives and processing certain visas in Cuba, he has been slow to follow through on his campaign promises to reverse many of the other restrictions he imposed former President Donald. Trump. That commitment may have been further delayed by the Cuban government’s crackdown on protests, which has eased the atmosphere for any apparent concessions from Washington. The protests changed everything, however, for the Roman family of Havana’s La Guinera neighborhood. Three of the family members were arrested on June 12, 2021 and two remain in prison. “They have not committed a crime serious enough to warrant this punishment,” said Emilio Román, 51, whose 26-year-old son Yosney, a construction worker, and 24-year-old daughter Mackyanis, a homemaker, were convicted. to 10 years in prison on charges of sedition in March. His younger daughter, 18-year-old Emiyoslan, was released on parole because she was a minor when she was arrested. Three cousins were also arrested — two of them are now in jail for 10 years as well. Officials have not said how many people were arrested during the protests that took place in dozens of places across the country, but an independent organization set up to monitor the cases, Justice 11J, has counted more than 1,400. The national prosecutor’s office said in June that courts had handed down 488 sentences to protesters, ranging from up to 25 years in prison. “The government has demonstrated its authoritarian character,” said Giselle Morphy, a Cuban lawyer now based in Mexico who works with Cubalex, a legal aid group focused on human rights in Cuba. “The state criminalizes the exercise of fundamental rights that must be protected in any democratic society, such as freedom of expression, and stigmatizes protest.” He said the crackdown is intended to deter Cubans from any new wave of protests. One who did call for more protests — unsuccessfully — last November, playwright Junior Garcia, fled the country. Authorities insist those arrested are not political prisoners but people who have broken laws against public disorder, vandalism or rioting, often at the instigation of US-based opposition groups that use social media to attack the socialist state . After a massive vaccination campaign with vaccines developed in Cuba itself, authorities say they haven’t seen a single death from COVID-19 in more than a month. Hotels and air routes that had been closed for more than a year have reopened – vital for a country that depends heavily on foreign tourism for the hard currency needed to import food and other critical goods. Cuba recorded only 573,000 foreign visitors last year, down from 4.2 million in 2019. But long queues for fuel remain and food and power outages are common after an 11% economic decline in 2020 caused by the pandemic and a weak 2% recovery in 2021. “These Cuban officials refuse to accept the three simplest economic keys to the crisis: breakfast, lunch and dinner,” said Domingo Amuchástegui, a former Cuban diplomat. He argues that the opening to small private businesses is still very limited. “The great lesson of China and Vietnam is being ignored,” he said, referring to communist states that have made much more sweeping openings to private enterprise. However, Cuba’s economy ministry announced in mid-June that 3,980 small and medium-sized private businesses had been approved since September, creating 66,300 jobs. The once-mighty sugar industry managed to produce only 480,000 metric tons in the most recent harvest, more than half of planned production and not enough to cover foreign contracts. But perhaps the hardest hit for most Cubans is the inflation that followed the elimination of the country’s old dual currency system — a much-discussed reform that finally arrived amid other crises. While the newly unified peso officially trades at 24 to the dollar, prices on the street range from 100 to 1. One of the most visible consequences of the economic crisis—and to a lesser extent of repression—is the sharp increase in immigration. The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol recorded that it encountered about 140,000 Cubans at the U.S. land border from the beginning of the fiscal year in October through May — a number that even surpasses the dramatic Mariel exodus of 1980, when 125,000 Cubans arrived in the U.S. And the U.S. Coast Guard reported intercepting 2,464 Cuban migrants at sea — also a jump from recent years. “There are fewer and fewer young people ready to live in the country,” said Cuban lawyer and political analyst Luis Carlos Batista, who said the loss is economically damaging for a small nation with an aging population trying to cope with U.S. finances. sanctions. “It could easily be that 1.5 percent of Cuba’s population is gone in just 10 months,” he said.
