Cuba summons US envoy to reject 'interfering conduct'
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The US embassy in Havana had urged the Cuban government to respect the rights of people protesting against food and electricity shortages.
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A Cuban flag is seen next to an American flag outside the US embassy in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)
Cuba on Monday summoned the US head of mission in Havana to reject "interfering conduct" following weekend protests, which Washington said were symptomatic of a "dire situation" in the Caribbean nation.
On Sunday, some Cubans staged street protests in the second-largest city Santiago de Cuba, Bayamo, and other places against food and electricity shortages.
Deeply affected by heavy unlawful US sanctions, Cuba has been experiencing a wave of blackouts since the start of March due to maintenance work on the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the island's largest.
The situation was worsened at the weekend by a shortage of fuel needed to generate electricity, leaving some areas without power for up to 14 hours a day.
The US embassy in Havana said on X it was aware of reports of "peaceful protests" and urged the Cuban government to "respect the human rights of the protestors and address the legitimate needs of the Cuban people."
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez responded by urging Washington not to "interfere in the country's internal affairs."
On Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio "formally transferred" to US charge d'affaires Benjamin Ziff Havana's "firm rejection of the interfering conduct and slanderous messages of the US government and its embassy" about Cuban "internal affairs."
The minister also pointed to Washington's "direct responsibility" for the "difficult economic situation that Cuba is going through," said the statement, referring to six decades of sanctions it said were "designed to destroy the economic capacity of the country."
In Washington, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel claimed that "the United States is not behind these protests in Cuba and the accusation of that is absurd."
"I think what we are seeing is a reflection of the dire situation on the island," Patel told reporters.
The Cuban statement said that if the United States had any "honest concern about the welfare of the Cuban population, it would remove Cuba from the arbitrary list of states that allegedly sponsor terrorism" to which it was added in 2021.
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