Biden stands with Cuba's fight for freedom

President Biden on Monday announced his support for what he calls Cubans' "clarion call for freedom and relief" from a regime that has failed to adequately handle the COVID-19 pandemic and other, more basic needs such as adequate food supplies.

"We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba’s authoritarian regime," Biden said in a statement released by the White House.

“The Cuban people are bravely asserting fundamental and universal rights,” Biden said. "Those rights, including the right of peaceful protest and the right to freely determine their own future, must be respected. The United States calls on the Cuban regime to hear their people and serve their needs at this vital moment rather than enriching themselves." 

There are videos displaying police brutality against demonstrators following the Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel telling his followers to confront protesters on the street to stop the uprising.

Díaz-Canel on Sunday blamed the protests on the United States, saying the country plans to "asphyxiate" Cuba through sanctions to cause a social uprising, McClatchy also reports.