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1/ A striking image is circulating this week on social media in Cuba: a dissident pumping his fist in the air, handcuffs dangling from one wrist, after friends and neighbors helped him evade arrest by police in Havana. Thread on #Cuban dissent 
https://reut.rs/2QeJuzP
https://reut.rs/2QeJuzP
2/ The image is a screenshot from a video showing rapper Maykel Castillo celebrating his escape, surrounded by other dissidents and residents of Havana’s rundown San Isidro neighborhood on Sunday. Some join him singing an anti-govt song
3/ The image shows how while public dissent in #Cuba is still uncommon, it is becoming less so. This is partly due to access to mobile internet and because frustrations with the government are growing amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades, analysts say
4/ The Cuban government says it is all part of a U.S.-directed “soft coup” attempt. It denounces dissidents as members of tiny groups paid by the United States to stir up unrest and further its decades-old efforts to overthrow the government. http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2021-02-03/soft-coup-script-is-repeated-and-once-again-fails
5/ To some, Castillo is a hero. To others, a misfit. He is part of the "artivist" San Isidro Movement that has expanded organized dissent beyond traditional political activism, attracting support from the broader artistic community ( https://reut.rs/2J8mwri ) and ordinary citizens
6/ One of the most prominent artivist leaders Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara told us their latest performance was about Cuban kids no longer being able to afford candies. He recalled a poignant custom from 1990s when kids like him collected candy wrappers intead to put in albums
7/ "We couldn't afford them but we liked the shiny wrappers and would sniff or lick them to imagine what was inside" he said. Sketches of candy wrappers hang in the HQ of the San Isidro Movement which also did a performance handing out sweeties. Havana called it a provocation
8/ I recalled how, when I recently gave a friend here some posh chocolate as a birthday present, she rushed to give it to her kid who hadn't had any chocolate for at least half a year. Shortages in #Cuba abound as USA sanctions & the pandemic have worsened its economic woes
9/ "This neighborhood is an example of what is happening across Cuba, not just here,” Otero Alcantara told Reuters. Small protests - whether over censorship, red tape deemed excessive or animal rights - are popping up nationwide https://reut.rs/3kBjR7B
10/ Internet in #Cuba was a gamechanger. “This allows one person’s or one community’s frustration and dissent to spread in real time so others who harbor similar frustrations will also learn that they are not alone and lose their fear of speaking out,” said Ted Henken @ElYuma
11/ Cuba's govt has addressed some issues raised by dissidents, for ex announcing in Feb a new decree on animal rights. But state television has dedicated hours of prime time to dismissing critics who want a complete political overhaul as part of a "U.S. soft coup attempt".
12/ Dissidents in #Cuba have documented on social media repeated house arrests and other types of harassment including "acts of repudiation" when pro government mobs are sent to harass them - something that had not been seen in Havana for years. https://reut.rs/2LrDLV9
14/ Non state media outlets have proliferated in recent years but at least 10 prominent journalists for non-state media have left Cuba in recent years after complaining of state pressure, according to an informal count by Reuters.
15/ "Authorities have been quite effective in dissolving initiatives,partly because real support for these people is still small but growing,"a western diplomat in #Cuba said. "But there's tension in the air & the biggest risk for authorities is people start protesting for food"
16/ Tough U.S. sanctions and the pandemic, which have gutted tourism, have cut into #Cuba's foreign exchange earnings and battered the state-run economy, which contracted 11% in 2020. There have been increased shortages of basics like medicine and food. https://reut.rs/2NHvtXc
