A year after protests, Cuba struggles to emerge from crisis

HAVANA (AP) — A year after the largest protests in decades shook Cuba's single-party government, hundreds of people who participated are in prison and the economic and political factors that caused the demonstrations largely remain.

Streets and public squares filled with protesters on July 11 and 12, 2021, some answering social media appeals, others joining spontaneously to express frustration with shortages, long lines and a lack of political options.

Since then, a few things have changed: The Communist Party government has made its most expansive — if still limited — opening in six decades to private enterprise, authorising small and medium-sized companies.

And the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed a gradual revival of the critical tourism industry.

But the overall economy remains dire, with long lines and rapidly rising prices for limited goods.

That has fed a huge increase in migration, principally to the United States.

And the economy remains squeezed by US sanctions.

While US President Joe Biden has eased some, such as allowing US residents to send more money to Cuban relatives and processing some visas in Cuba, he has been slow to implement his campaign promises to turn back many of the other restrictions imposed by former President Donald Trump.

That commitment may have been further delayed by the Cuban government's crackdown on the protests, which soured the atmosphere for any seeming concessions from Washington.

The protests changed everything, however, for the Román family of Havana's La Guinera neighbourhood.

Officials haven't said how many people were arrested during the protests that occurred in dozens of places across the country, but an independent organisation formed to track the cases, Justice 11J, has counted more than 1,400.

The national prosecutor's office said in June that courts had imposed 488 sentences on protesters, ranging up to 25 years in prison.

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