The protests were triggered by the “manipulation and communication campaign financed by the US” with the objective of inciting people to take to the streets in order to bring instability to the country, Marlen Redondo, Charge d’Affaires of the Cuban Embassy and Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Vienna said in an interview with Press TV’s Richard Medhurst on Monday.
The US-led campaign has also taken advantage of “the really hard situation” Cuba is facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and worsened by the decades-long blockade of the country, she said.
She further emphasized that prior to the protest actions, there was a US-inspired social media campaign that clearly “incited violence and encouraged acts of vandalism, assaulting Cuban authorities and acts of sabotage.”
As a result, Redondo added, vandals took to the streets on July 11, throwing stones and breaking glasses, and some disgruntled people also joined them.
She also underlined that the Western media “intentionally exaggerated the size of the protest,” clarifying that there was no “social outbreak” in Cuba as claimed by the media and other elements.
“There were disturbances that were caused by the manipulation game and campaign of the US government,” said the Cuban diplomat.
Pointing to the publication of fabricated and false images of wounded children and others, she said that even the United Nations human rights chief shared an image of a female pro-government demonstrator, falsely claiming that she was an anti-government protester. She then noted that the UN official later had to remove that image.
The Cuban diplomat also condemned calls by some Cuba-born US officials calling for American airstrikes or military intervention against Cuba, identifying the mayor of the US city of Miami as a case in point. She emphasized that such individuals are not “real Cubans” and are commonly influenced by “economic, political and electoral interests.”
She condemned US President Joe Biden for maintaining his predecessor Donald Trump’s more than 240 economic measures against Havana and even bringing additional sanctions against Cuban officials and entities.
Her remarks came as Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called on Friday for an end to the long-running “inhuman” US blockade against the Caribbean island nation, saying Washington has no reason to maintain its Cold War policies against Havana.
Rodriguez stressed in a Twitter post that the United States lacks reasons to enforce coercive measures of “economic suffocation” against the Cuban people amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“There is also no justification for keeping the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by Washington for almost six decades,” he added.
The Cuban diplomat recently held Washington responsible for days of unrest in the country that led to at least one death and dozens of injuries and more than 100 arrests.
Protests in Cuba have made international headlines for several weeks now. The US has not only welcomed these protests but also encouraged them.
Biden has not only kept Trump’s maximum pressure campaign on Cuba, but has increased the sanctions, saying that this is just the beginning. Several prominent lawmakers in Congress, specifically Republicans, have advocated direct intervention in Cuba, even suggesting airstrikes.
Cuba has says the entire affair is orchestrated by the United States in order to interfere in its internal politics. Officials have pointed to decades of covert and overt assaults on Cuba, the embargo, and US efforts to malign the Caribbean nation.
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