Canadian rap star Tory Lanez took to Twitter yesterday to call out the immense hardships being experienced by the people of Cuba.
“… YOOO … ARE YALL NOT SEEING WHATS GOING ON IN CUBA !!!!! this is some str8 bullshit !!! .. nah we gotta help Cuba 🇨🇺”
Tory was commenting on the current state of affairs in Cuba, and a series of ongoing protests across the country to denounce the government of President Miguel Diaz-Canel, and to speak out against the acute shortages of medicine and food available to over 11 million Cubans throughout the pandemic.
Related
- Cuba protests: 4 essential reads on dissent in the post-Castro era
- ‘Patria y Vida’: The Dissident Rappers Helping Drive Cuba’s Protests
- How ‘Patria Y Vida’ Became the Anthem of Cuba’s Protests
According to NBC News: “Cuba entered the era of the pandemic with an already weakened economy. Former President Donald Trump’s travel restrictions had reduced tourism to the island, the second-most-lucrative source of revenue for the government after the export of medical professionals. The aid Cuba relied on from Venezuela had also declined dramatically after the economic and political crisis.”
Reports are coming out regularly about violence committed against protestors by the Cuban military, and even journalists have been targeted in their attempts to quell the growing unrest.
Calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian government to help the impoverished nation have been ramping up in recent days. On Tuesday, The Globe and Mail published an opinion piece by Doug Saunders calling on Canada to help the Cuban people, but not the Cuban regime.
“Canada’s comparatively robust economic and trade ties to Cuba, and its long history of friendly relations with the island, put this country in a unique position to provide food, vaccines and medical assistance to the Cuban people, through both private- and public-sector channels, without discrediting the movement.”
For more information on the situation in Cuba, check out a recently published piece by The Conversation outlining four essential reads on dissent in the post-Fidel Castro era.
