Anti-government protests in Cuba amid food shortages and COVID surge Protests have broken out in Cuba, with thousands of people taking to the streets against the communist regime. Demonstrators expressed frustration at food shortages, rising prices and the lack of COVID-19 vaccines. The government has tried to blame the US for the unrest, and is rallying its own supporters. It is the greatest show of discontent with the socialist government since the 1990s. Like back then, the trigger for this protest is the desperate economic situation. Right now, the country is suffering from food shortages. Soon the police arrived and began to drag off people in the crowd. The arrests and the violence only makes the demonstrators angrier. "We are not afraid" they cry out. Supporters of the government have been out in the streets too. President Miguel Diaz-Canel himself led a rally. It was organized quickly - in a town outside Havana, where the anti-government protests began early on Sunday. With the president encouraging his supporters to mobilize against his opponents - there were ugly confrontations. A group of government supporters detain opposition protesters. A communist regime has ruled Cuba since 1959. It's survived the fall of the Soviet Union and the death of its founder, Fidel Castro. Now it is again being challenged. But displays like these show it is unlikely to go without a fight.
