>>> LETS GET TO THE NEWS.
WELL BEGIN THIS MORNING IN CUBA
WHERE AT LEAST 80 DEMONSTRATORS
INVOLVED WITH RECENT PROTESTS
HAVE BEEN ARRESTED AMID THE
WORST ECONOMIC CRISIS THE
COUNTRY HAS SEEN IN DECADES.
NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT ANDREA
MITCHELL HAS THE LATEST.
>> Reporter: THOUSANDS OF
DEMONSTRATORS SPILLING INTO THE
STREETS OF CUBA THIS WEEKEND,
CALLING FOR AN END OF THE 62
COMMUNIST REGIME.
PROTESTERS DUMPING TRASH AND
THROWING ROCKS.
DEMONSTRATIONS SPARKED BY FOOD
SHORTAGES AND BLACKOUTS.
IN MIAMI PROTESTS IN SOLIDARITY
WITH HAVANA.
MARIA HAS FAMILY IN CUBA.
>> I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT THEIR
SITUATION IS RIGHT NOW.
>> Reporter: AN ECONOMIC CRISIS
KPAT ERBAIT
EXACERBATED BY THE PANDEMIC AND
NO ACCESS TO APPROVED VACCINES.
A PERFECT STORM FOR ANTI-REGIME
ANGER THAT SPREAD RAPIDLY AS
MORE CUBANS GAINED ACCESS TO THE
INTERNET.
THE CUBAN PRESIDENT TODAY
BLAMING THE UNREST ON U.S.
SANCTIONS.
>> Translator: THE LACK OF
MEDICINE AND FOOD, ALL THOSE
TOPICS EMBEDDED IN OUR SOCIETY,
WHAT IS THE ORIGIN?
ITS A BLOCKADE?
>> THEY SIMPLY ARE NOT HEARING
THE VOICES AND WILL OF THE CUBAN
PEOPLE.
PEOPLE DEEPLY, DEEPLY, DEEPLY
TIRED OF THE REPRESSION.
>> Reporter: PRESIDENT OBAMA
ESTABLISHED DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS
WITH CUBA AND REMOVED IT FROM
THE LIST OF STATE SPONSOR
TERRORISM BUT THE TRUMP
ADMINISTRATION PUT CUBA BACK ON
THE LIST, IMPOSING TOUGHER
SANCTIONS WHICH PRESIDENT BIDEN
HAS NOT LIFTED.
>> REFRAIN FROM VIOLENCE, THE
ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE THE VOICES
OF PEOPLE OF CUBA.
>> LETS GO TO HAVANA WHERE WE
FIND ED AUGUSTA.
LAY OUT FOR OUR VIEWERS WHY
WERE SEEING THE DEMONSTRATIONS
IN THE STREETS.
WEVE HEARD REPORTS OF
REPRESSION
REPRESSION, AUTHOR TEAR NICHE,
COVID AND THE LACK OF A
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO IT.
WHAT ARE YOU SEEING ON THE
GROUND?
>> Reporter: THE SCENES I SAW ON
SUNDAY ARE THINGS IVE NEVER
WITNESSED IN CUBA.
IVE BEEN HERE FOR EIGHT YEARS
IN HAVANA AND ACROSS THE COUNTRY
THERE WERE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE.
I SAW YOUTHS THROWING BOTTLES AT
POLICE, I SAW ONE POLICE BEING
HIT IN THE FACE BEFORE HAVING TO
SPEED OFF WITH OTHER POLICEMEN.
POLICE FOR THEIR PART BEATING
PROTESTERS, FIRING NOT SURE IF
IT WAS RUBBER BULLETS OR NOT,
USING BATONS TO HIT THEM, PEPPER
SPRAY.
IT WAS A MAELEE OF VIOLENCE
BETWEEN PREDOMINANTLY YOUNG
PROTESTERS.
I THINK THE MAIN DRIVER FOR THIS
HAS BEEN THE SCARCITY THAT
CUBANS ARE LIVING THROUGH.
AS YOU MENTIONED IN THE LEADUP,
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HIT
CUBA WITH UNPRECEDENTEDLY POTENT
SANCTIONS, OVER 200 SANCTIONS
AGAINST THE CUBAN REGIME HERE IN THE TRUMP TIME IN OFFICE.
THE TRUMP TIME IN OFFICE.
AND THOSE SANCTIONS HAVE AS FIX
KUWAIT
-- AS FIXSTRANGLED THE ECONOMY.
THATS PLAYING OUT IN THE
STREET.
I SPOKE TO A WOMAN YESTERDAY WHO
GETS UP EVERY MORNING AT 3:45 IN
THE MORNING, HAS TO HIDE FROM
POLICE BECAUSE THERES A CURFEW
IN PLACE TO TRY TO KEEP COVID
LIMITED UNTIL 5:00.
SHE HIDES BEHIND A SHOE REPAIR
PLACE AND THEN AT 5:00 SHE BOLTS
TO CUE UP FOR GOODS SHE DOESNT
KNOW ARE GOING TO ARRIVE.
YESTERDAY WAS A GOOD DAY FOR HER
BECAUSE SHE WAS ONLY, SHE SAID,
IN THE CUE FOR EIGHT HOURS AND
WAS ABLE TO GET BACK BEFORE
LUNCH WITH MINCED MEAT.
ITS THIS SORT OF DESPERATION
LINKED TO U.S. SANCTIONS BUT
INEFFICIENCY IN THE STATE PLAN
ECONOMY AND THE PANDEMIC WHICH
HAS REMOVED ALL TOURISM FOR THIS
COUNTRY THAT LED TO THIS HUGE
AMOUNT OF ANGER THAT WE SAW
EXPLODE IN THE STREETS ON
SUNDAY.
>> AS YOU KNOW FOR GENERATION,
THE GOVERNMENT HAS SQUASHED
QUICKLY ANY SIGN OF DECENT
AGAINST IT.
IS THIS TIME DIFFERENT, THIS NEW
GENERATION OF PEOPLE WERE
SEEING IN THE STREETS, IS IT
DIFFERENT THIS TIME?
>> Reporter: I THINK WHAT WERE
SEEING RIGHT NOW IS THE
GOVERNMENT COMING DOWN HARD ON
THE DEMONSTRATORS, ESPECIALLY
DEMONSTRATORS THAT WERE VIOLENT.
BUT ALSO THERE WILL BE SOME
PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE.
PEOPLE ARRESTED UNDER HOUSE
ARREST OR CURRENTLY
INTERROGATED.
I THINK ITS A MIX.
IM SPEAKING TO YOU NOW FROM AN
ISLAND WHERE THE INTERNET HAS
BEEN CUT.
THE AUTHORITIES LIKELY CUT THAT,
ONE CAN SURMISE, TO STOP A
REPEAT OF THE DEMONSTRATIONS
THAT WE SAW TWO DAYS AGO.
AND IN HAVANA RIGHT NOW THERES
A VERY HEAVY POLICE PRESENCE.
DRIVING HERE ON THE WAY TO WORK
YOU SEE AN EXPANDED POLICE
PRESENCE.
SO AUTHORITIES WILL BE KEEN TO
KEEP A LID ON PROTESTS IF
THEYRE ABLE TO.
>> ED, THANK YOU SO MUCH.
>>> WE HEARD FROM THE CUBAN
GOVERNMENT THIS IS ALL BECAUSE
OF THE UNITED STATES BLOCKADE OF
CUBA, A CRUTCH WEVE HEARD FOR
MANY GENERATIONS.
>> I DIDNT SEE THOSE PROTESTS
IN THE CROWD.
LETS BRING IN WHITE HOUSE
REPORTER FOR THE ASSOCIATED
PRESS, JONATHAN LEMIRE.
JONATHAN, THERE OBVIOUSLY ARE A
LOT OF IMPLICATIONS TO HOW THE
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION APPROACHES THIS CRISIS.
THIS CRISIS.
OBVIOUSLY DISEMPLOYEEPLOMATIC AN
GEOPOLITICAL AND DOMESTIC
CONSIDERATIONS AS WELL.
THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION CANT
BE SEEN SITTING BACK AS THESE
PROTESTS GO ON 90 MILES SOUTH OF
FLORIDA.
>> NO, JOE.
WE HEARD ENCOURAGING WORDS FROM
THE PRESIDENT YESTERDAY IN TERMS
OF SUPPORTING THE PROTESTS, THE
DEMONSTRATORS.
TAKING A DIFFERENT TONE THAT HIS
FORMER BOSS, BARACK OBAMA, WHO
SOUGHT TO EASE TENSIONS WITH
CUBA TO SORT OF NORMALIZE SOME
RELATIONS THERE, EVEN WITH THE
CASTRO REGIME.
THAT ALL WENT AWAY UNDER FORMER
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, WHO
REIMPOSED TOUGH SANCTIONS.
MANY OF WHICH THESE
RESTRICTIONS, THE U.S.
GOVERNMENT UNDER BIDEN HAVE NOT
YET RELEASED, HAVE NOT YET
CHANGED, ROLLED BACK.
I PRESSED PRESS SECRETARY JEN
PSAKI ABOUT THAT YESTERDAY AND
SHE POINTED TO OTHER AID THAT
HAD GONE THERE.
I ASKED ABOUT THE VACCINE, CITED
AS ONE OF THE ISSUES IN CUBA,
THEY WERE RAVAGED BY THE
PANDEMIC, THE ECONOMY DEAFVASTAT
BY THE LACK OF TOURISM DUE TO
THE PANDEMIC.
SHE SAID BECAUSE CUBA WAS NOT
PART OF THE INTERNATIONAL
VACCINE DISTRIBUTION
ORGANIZATION, THE U.S. WAS NOT
ABLE TO SEND VACCINES THAT WAY.
SO THERES NO OBVIOUS IMMEDIATE
SOLUTION TO THAT.
THERE IS THE DOMESTIC FRONT WE
KNOW HOW POWERFUL THE VOTING
BLOCK OF CUBANS IS AROUND
FLORIDA, MIAMI.
WE KNOW PRESIDENT BIDEN LOST
FLORIDA IN 2020 BY A SUBSTANTIAL
AMOUNT.
A LOT OF DEMOCRATS HAD WRITTEN
OFF FLORIDA FOR 24, ESPECIALLY
IF DONALD TRUMP GETS BACK IN THE
RACE, THINKING THATS NOT GOING
TO COME BACK TO THEIR COLUMN.
BUT THERE ARE LATINO POPULATIONS
ELSEWHERE IN THE COUNTRY AS WELL
AND THERE ARE, OF COURSE, OTHER
DEMOCRATS OTHER THAN JOE BIDEN
WHO HAVE POLITICAL INTERESTS IN
FLORIDA.
SO THEYRE NAVIGATING CAREFULLY