LIVE UPDATES: Cuba lifts tax on some imports after unrest; protesters say, ‘We don’t want crumbs’
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz says Cuba will lift some import restrictions—a move widely seen as conciliatory after historic protest, but it is unclear how effective the move will be in calming tensions.
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Black Lives Matter's recent praise of Cuba's government isn't the first time that BLM has praised the country's communist regime.
BLM previously glorified Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in an online post following his death in November 2016.
"We are feeling many things as we awaken to a world without Fidel Castro. There is an overwhelming sense of loss, complicated by fear and anxiety. Although no leader is without their flaws, we must push back against the rhetoric of the right and come to the defense of El Comandante," the post said.
Former Reagan Justice Department official Mark Levin, host of Fox News' "Life, Liberty & Levin," sounded off on "Hannity" Thursday after Black Lives Matter praised the Cuban dictatorship while blaming the United States for Havana unrest; adding that the media is encouraging such Marxist groups to rise to prominence because they themselves have a history of being deferential to authoritarians.
On Wednesday, BLM posted a lengthy decree lambasting the United States and praising the dictatorship in Havana as an ally of "oppressed peoples of African descent," prominently mentioning their harboring of U.S. fugitive and former Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur, who was granted asylum after murdering a New Jersey State Trooper in 1973.
President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 15, 2021.
President Biden said Thursday that he is considering establishing an internet source for the Cuban people after the government shut off access amid mass protests.
An internet blackout was enforced by the communist state Sunday after Cubans hit the streets in historic protests over food shortages, inadequate access to the coronavirus vaccine, and unreliable electricity.
"We’re considering whether we have the technological ability to reinstate that access," Biden during a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Thursday.
Protests broke out across Cuba on Sunday that were seen as an historic affront on the government
A top government official in Cuba said in a televised address that the country would lift some import taxes—a move widely seen as conciliatory after historic protest, but it is unclear how effective the move will be in calming tensions.
“No, we don’t want crumbs,” Yoani Sánchez, a journalist and government critic, told the BBC. “We want freedom. Blood wasn’t spilled on Cuban streets in order to import a few extra suitcases.”
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz said starting Monday, travelers entering the country will be able to bring in food and other essentials without getting hit with an import tax. The report said the move could help with some of the medicine shortage on the island.
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