HAVANA MUZZLE

Artist Tania Bruguera, who awaits trial for being part of anti-government demonstrations, shares the fears of an average Cuban

- SUMITRA NAIR

ON JULY 20, CUBAN installation and performance artist Tania Bruguera, 53, was arrested and taken to Villa Marista, a Cuban state security prison for political prisoners. Bruguera was interrogated and released after 11 hours, with an injunction to stay at home. She is facing three charges, including plotting against the government through protests and performance.

Ten days earlier, on July 11, thousands of Cubans had taken to the streets, chanting “freedom” and demanding President Miguel Diaz-Canel’s resignation. Those were Cuba’s first protests since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The protests were fuelled by dissatisfaction over rising Covid-19 numbers and Cuba’s shrinking economy; the Cuban economy fell by 10.9 per cent last year. Diaz-Canel, who was named first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in April, said the coverage of the unrest in Cuba was a dissemination of “false images” . “What the world is seeing of Cuba is a lie,” Diaz-Canel tweeted. “Stop the lies, infamy and hatred. #Cuba is deeply allergic to hatred. And it will never be a land of hatred! Nothing good is built out of hatred. Hate robs us of time to love and even love itself. TO #Cuba, #Putyourheart.” He was responding particularly to the videos on social media of the unrest and footage of the police using violence to disperse protesters.

As of August 15, Covid-19 cases in Cuba have crossed the five-lakh mark. The spike in cases is overwhelming health care facilities. The country with a population of about 1.2 crore has fully vaccinated 30 lakh, all with home-grown vaccines.