LIVE UPDATES: Cuba cracks down on protesters; concerns grow over reports of missing detainees
Cuba’s Communist government showed no interest in compromise after being rocked by historic protests that took aim at the communist regime and the worsening conditions in the country. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, criticize the Biden administration over an early tweet that suggested that freedom of assembly is respected in Cuba.
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Cuba´s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez speaks during a press conference in Havana on Tuesday. (Pool AP Photo/Ismael Francisco)
Cuba’s foreign minister blasted the United States for allegedly fomenting unrest on the island nation, saying American actions could trigger an exodus of Cubans to the U.S.
“I accuse the government of the United States of being directly involved and of having serious responsibility in the incidents that occurred on July 11 and I warn again that it will be responsible for the consequences that arise,” Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on national television, the Miami Herald reported.
He also accused Republicans officials in Florida of financing the demonstrations gripping the country and that the U.S. government was funding news websites to spread lies about the Cuban regime.
More protests against the Cuban government briefly shut down Interstate 95 in Jacksonville, Fla., as demonstrators showed solidarity with similar those attending gatherings in Miami.
First Coast News reported law enforcement vehicle blocked protesters onto a ramp and that northbound lanes were eventually open.
In a tweet, the Jacoksonville Sheriff's Office said northbound traffic on the freeway approaching the downtown area was blocked and authorities were working ot clear the roadway.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during a press conference with Guatemala's Foreign Minister Pedro Brolo in Guatemala City on July 6. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday warned Cubans and Haitians not to make the dangerous trek to the United States despite the upheaval many face in their countries.
“The time is never right to attempt migration by sea,” he said during a news conference U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters. “To those who risk their lives doing so, this risk is not worth taking.”
“Allow me to be clear: If you take to the sea, you will not come to the United States,” he added.
Many migrants attempting to reach U.S. shores from Cuba in recent years have died. Authorities said 20 people have died in recent weeks at sea, said Mayorkas, who fled Cuba with his family as a child in 1960.
Mayorkas said the Coast Guard has deployed officials to monitor the Florida Straits and Caribbean by air and sea. He said authorities would continue to interdict migrants attempting to reach the U.S. “irregularly.”
“Any migrant intercepted at sea, regardless of their nationality, will not be permitted to enter the United States,” he said.
This year, the U.S. has interdicted 470 Cubans and 313 Haitians, Mayorkas said.
One man has died in the anti-government protests in Cuba, the AFP News Agency reported, citing officials. No details about the reported death were immediately available.
The communist island nation is in the third day of widespread protests amid food shortages and an economy in decline.
The demonstrations have pitted those dissatisfied with the government against pro-regime supporters.
On Tuesday, Movimiento San Isidro, a group which advocates for greater freedom of expression on the island, published a list of dozens of people who have allegedly been detained by authorities.
Among those are Camila Acosta, a journalist for the Spanish newspaper ABC. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares has called for her release.
Government supporters shout slogans as anti-government protesters march in Havana, Cuba on Sunday. Hundreds of demonstrators went out to the streets in several cities in Cuba to protest against ongoing food shortages and high prices of foodstuffs. (AP Photo/Ismael Francisco)
A large group of pro-regime Cubans took to the streets holding large clubs as they snaked through Havana to confront critics of the country's dictatorship.
Over the weekend, mass protests broke out throughout the country as Cubans called for an end to the communist regime that has brought on a historic and crippling economic crisis. Chants of "Down with the dictatorship" rang throughout Havana's streets.
Cuba's authoritarian leader Miguel Díaz-Canel urged his supporters to brandish weapons and confront the anti-government protesters, sanctioning acts of violence.
A truck spray-painted with the title of a Cuban protest song crashed into the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections building Tuesday. (Courtesy of WDRB-TV)
The driver of a truck spray-painted with the name of a popular song being played during the ongoing protests in Cuba crashed into a corrections building in Kentucky on Tuesday.
The truck hit the front of the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections building on Sixth and Liberty streets just after 2:15 p.m., police said.
The driver was arrested, Fox affiliate, WDRB-TV reported.
Images posted to social media showed “Patria Y Vida” spray-painted on the side of the vehicle. The song, a collaboration between Afro-Cuban reggaeton and Miami-based hip-hop stars, was released earlier this year, NPR reported.
The title is based off the island’s communist regime’s slogan: "patria o muerte" — homeland or death. Now it's being used to galvanize Cubans to voice their frustration.
"Before the revolution, we had a beautiful Havana; now we have ruins," rapper Yotuel Romero told Billboard in February. "From that point on, I said, 'I'm not going to be quiet anymore.'"
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to journalists following a round table on Cuba at the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he wants to provide Cubans on the island with internet access as protests enter the third day and the flow of information continues to encounter barriers.
“What does the regime do when you start to see these images? They shut down the internet. They don’t want the truth to be out, they don’t want people to be able to communicate,” DeSantis said during a roundtable discussion with Republican lawmakers and members of the Cuban exile community in Miami. “And so one of the things I think we should be able to do with our private companies or with the United States is to provide some of that internet service via satellite. We have companies on the Space Coast that launch these things.”
He said he was going to “make calls and see what are the options” from some Florida companies.
Authorities on the island have blocked social media sites in what appears to be an effort to stop the flow of information.
Government supporters gather at the Maximo Gomez monument in Havana on Sunday. Supporters of the government took to the streets at the time hundreds more protested against ongoing food shortages and high prices of foodstuffs. (AP Photo/Eliana Aponte)
Mayor Francis Suarez is calling for the U.S. to intervene in Cuba after scores of demonstrators flooded the streets near Miami's Little Havana, demanding an end to the nation’s communist regime.
"This is an issue that I think very much matters to the United States," Suarez said during an interview on FOX Business' "Varney & Co." "Cuba is exporting communism throughout the hemisphere and throughout the world, and has been doing it for decades — and that's something that should interest the national security of the United States."
Hundreds of Cuban-Americans rallied behind the Cuban people for the second straight night in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, waving flags, chanting "Cuba Libre!" and demanding change in the communist country.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks with reporters on June 17 as she arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) (AP)
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and three other House Democrats affiliated with the far-left Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have so far remained silent while the DSA appears to back Cuba's communist regime against protesters demanding freedom.
Ocasio-Cortez, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Missouri Rep. Cori Bush make up the four DSA members in Congress.
All four members have yet to speak out about the ongoing protests in Cuba and none of their offices returned Fox News' requests for comment by press time.
Protests showing support for the demonstrations in Cuba have shut down the Palmetto Expressway by Coral Way, according to Total Traffic Miami.
A rally began at Coral Way and SW 82nd Avenue before demonstrators marched onto the freeway, blocking traffic in both directions, Miami CBS reported.
Northbound lanes were blocked between Coral Way and 8th Street and southbound lanes between Coral Way and Bird Road.
Cuban exiles rally at Versailles Restaurant in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood in support of protesters in Cuba, Monday, July 12, 2021, in Miami. Sunday's protests in Cuba marked some of the biggest displays of antigovernment sentiment in the tightly controlled country in years. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Demonstrations erupted across Florida for the second straight day to show solidarity with anti-government protesters in Cuba and call for an end to the country’s communist regime.
From Jacksonville to Tampa and Miami, hundreds of community members took to the streets on Monday to rally for Cuban freedom.
"To me, what it means is a possible end to an oppression," Peter Merlo, a demonstrator in Miami, told WSVN-TV. "We don’t need to stand with Cuba. We need to act for Cuba."
Read more from FoxNews.com: https://www.foxnews.com/us/demonstrations-cuba-freedom-communism
People protest during a demonstration in solidarity with thousands of Cubans who took to the streets Sunday, July 11, 2021, in various locations in Cuba, in one of the largest protests to take place on the island, at Versailles Cuban restaurant off 8th Street in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. (Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald via AP)
Demonstrators in Florida gathered for the second straight night in support of Cuban citizens who are protesting the country's high prices, food shortages and its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Cuban police are now out in force on the country's streets as President Miguel Díaz-Canel is accusing Cuban Americans of using social media to fuel the protests.
In Jacksonville, Fla., nearly 100 demonstrators gathered for the second straight night to show their support for anti-government protesters in Cuba.
“Right now, we don’t have any voice,” demonstrator Eduardo Ramos told WJXT-TV. “We don’t have access to hospitals, food, medicine, anything. And people are dying in the street right now.”
https://twitter.com/wjxt4/status/1414887328640905218
Sen. Ted Cruz told anti-government protesters in Cuba that they have the support of the U.S.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Monday questioned an early tweet from the U.S. State Department that seemed to assure Americans that the right to peaceful assembly is observed in Cuba amid new reports of a punishing crackdown by the government and an emerging "list of missing persons."
Cruz, the son of a Cuban immigrant, posted a portion of an article from the Wall Street Journal that mentioned Cuba’s Communist government’s effort to snuff out protests. Havana deployed security forces across the island and arrested dozens.
"How is this possible??" Cruz tweeted. "The Biden State Dept told us that the Cuban communist dictatorship protects their "right to peaceful assembly"?"
Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state, says the Cuban people want freedom.
The Biden administration was criticized after initially claiming that thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets across Cuba over COVID-19 concerns. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says that is not an accurate assessment.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/mike-pompeo-cuban-protests-are-not-about-covid-19
The U.S. Coast Guard mentioned the nearly 20 people who've died in the past few weeks attempting to make the journey
The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday tried to dissuade Cubans looking to flee the country amid widespread protests to not attempt a voyage at sea due to the perilous conditions.
The Coast Guard called the Florida Straits "dangerous and unforgiving." The statement pointed to the nearly 20 lives "tragically lost in recent weeks as a result of these dangerous voyages."
https://www.foxnews.com/us/coast-guard-tries-to-dissuade-cubans-considering-fleeing-country-by-boat
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