Cuba blocks the Internet in an attempt to quell protests

Cuban authorities have shut down Internet connections in an apparent effort to prevent protests after thousands of people protested against food shortages, blackouts and coronavirus restrictions.

“There is no internet. None, nowhere. People are trying to use apps, ”said Isabel, a resident of Havana. The London-based NetBlocks Internet Observatory reported that restrictions on social media and messaging in Cuba continued on Tuesday.

Communist – led Cuba was one of the last countries in the world to open to the United States Internet, allowing it to mobile phones just a few years ago. Domestic broadband remains uncommon, although the state-run state-run telecommunications monopoly says about 60 percent of the population has some sort of access to the web.

Cuba last shut down the Internet in November after a few hundred people he protested in front of the Ministry of Culture that asks for more freedoms.

Since then, ETECSA has intermittently and systematically cut off dissidents’ phones and Internet connections.

Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuban president and leader of the Communist Party, stated in two television broadcasts that the anti-government protests on Sunday they were aired on social media from abroad by the US and Cuban exiles trying to overthrow the government.

“In recent weeks, the campaign on social media against the Cuban revolution has increased,” Diaz-Canel said Monday. “[It is] trying to create dissatisfaction by manipulating the emotions and feelings on social media of the problems the population has. “

The government has said nothing about the closure of communications, which seems aimed at hampering the organization of protesters and understanding other countries.

Ned Price, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, appealed to Cuban authorities to lift restrictions on the Internet, saying they had been imposed by the government in response to the protests.

“We call on Cuban leaders to show restraint, to urge respect for the voice of the people by opening up all media, both online and offline,” he said.

“Closing technology, closing information channels, which does nothing to meet the legitimate needs and aspirations of the Cuban people.”

The streets of Cuba have been almost quiet since Sunday afternoon, but at least two small protests have taken place in outlying areas of Havana. Arrests have also been reported despite the difficulty of being able to confirm them.

Cubalex, a human rights group based in the United States, said that since Sunday morning it had received, in collaboration with journalists and activists, “information and recorded the arrest or disappearance of 148 people, 12 of whom have been released “.

“Of the 136 people, it was confirmed that 46 were arrested on July 11 and nine on July 12, most were arrested at home or leaving them,” the group said.

Cubalex said it had not been able to confirm reports of deaths or serious injuries among protesters.