The International Labor Day parade was held again in Cuba this Sunday (1st), after two years suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with tens of thousands of people chanting slogans and carrying placards in favor of the government. This was the first mass political event following the July 11, 2021 anti-government protests.
Participants began to parade at 7 am (local time; 8 am in Brasília) for about three hours, with Cuban music and chants alluding to the date, passing in front of the authorities’ tribune, headed by the Cuban dictator, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and the his predecessor, Raúl Castro.
Raúl, who already has limited public activity, watched the parade from the rostrum, repeatedly waved to the crowd and spoke to the authorities around him.
The first to cross Revolution Square, the scene of mass historical events over the last six decades, were 50,000 doctors and scientists responsible for the development of local vaccines against Covid-19, to whom the parade was dedicated.
They were followed by groups of officials from all ministries, institutions and state-owned companies, the Central Bank and the Supreme Court, each with a banner with the name of their place of work.
In addition, many people carried Cuban flags and banners with slogans (“Let’s go with everything!”, “Fatherland or death”), images of Cuban leaders – from Fidel Castro to José Martí, passing through Díaz-Canel, Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos – and criticism of the US embargo.
The march was organized by the state-owned Central dos Trabalhadores de Cuba (CTC) and, as usual, was replicated in the country’s main cities.
Before the start of the parade, the secretary general of the CTC, Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, said that the international context is “complex and challenging” and denounced the increase in “hostility and the economic blockade of the United States against the island as “the main obstacle ” to its development.
The union leader added that “all this influences scarcity (of basic products) and inflation” in Cuba, which is going through a serious economic crisis.
This scenario, with supply problems and high inflation, is the result of a combination of the consequences of the pandemic, the tightening of US sanctions and failures in national macroeconomic management.
This year’s parade, with a similar turnout to previous years, was the first mass political event following the July 11, 2021 anti-government protests and an opportunity for the government to demonstrate its convening power.
Opponents and critics of the government urged people to stay at home and not parade because, given the economic difficulties, they feel there is no reason to celebrate in Cuba.
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