The first of the protests took place in the village of San Antonio de los Baños, in western Cuba. According to the EFE agency, hundreds of people have demonstrated on Sunday on the island, shouting slogans like "dictatorship down" or "homeland and life", and the mobilizations have spread throughout the island. The protesters, who in general have not recorded incidents, have been dozens of those arrested by the police, according to the news agency, although incidents have been recorded in several cities and towns. Amnesty International has denounced the "repression" of the Cuban Government in the face of Khashoggi's death. The police have ensured that the people have been shot and that arbitrary arrests have taken place in the area.

On Sunday, President Miguel Díaz-Canel travelled to San Antonio de los Baños and subsequently made statements on Cuban television, calling the citizens to the “struggle”: “We call all the revolutionaries to go out into the street, to defend the revolution everywhere. We will not surrender the sovereignty of our homeland.” Citizens who have responded to the President’s call and those who protest against the government have been involved in discussions and fights in different places. The president said that the government had perceived before the protests "the complexity of the present times", referring to economic problems. In addition to harsh and direct statements against protests and demonstrators, the Pro Amnesty Movement has interspersed many more. “There were also revolutionary people [to the protest], who may be mixed with the disinformation on social networks,” he said on Sunday in relation to the protest of San Antonio de los Baños, “It is clear that any proposal that citizens make, any complaint, we can value it,” at the appearance of Monday.

Health and energy crisis

On Monday morning, the President of the Generalitat made a new live appearance with the leaders of the Government and the Communist Party. She pointed out that the hearing was designed to “inform the people”. One of the main stimuli of Sunday’s protests seems to be that there have been interruptions in the intensity of light in recent weeks. At the hearing, President Díaz-Canel and the Minister of Energy have attributed the cuts to failures and the rise in energy demand in major thermoelectric power plants and have ensured that the stability of the service will be restored this Tuesday.

In addition to the economic crisis, the other problem is COVID-19. Contamination data have been the highest since the beginning of the pandemic in recent weeks. At Sunday's hearing, Díaz-Canel put on the table the possibility of a house lockdown.

Blockade and the United States

President Joe Biden, in a statement, expressed support for the Sunday morning protests: “Cuban citizens are courageously practicing universal fundamental rights.” Dia Canel has denounced the responsibility of the United States in the protests, both for the promotion of the protests and for the economic damage caused by the blockade. He recalled that since the beginning of the global health crisis, the US Government has deepened rather than relaxed the blockade.