Since Sunday, July 11, with cries of "freedom," "down with dictatorship" and "fatherland and life" (as opposed to the regime's message "fatherland or death"), thousands of Cubans gathered in the streets of Cuba amid the ongoing pandemic to protest against the government and the current situation of the island nation.  

In addition to the impoverishment of Cuban society, citizens complained about the mismanagement and negligence in dealing with the COVID-19 crisis. 

According to the research site Inventario, protests are taking place in 20 towns and cities across the island. In addition to poverty, the paralysis of tourism and the health emergency, a growing inflation, power outages throughout the country, lack of food, medicines and basic products, have triggered the protests.

Faced with this reality, the government has begun to repress the demonstrators with military presence in the streets. 

Meanwhile, a group of civil and social organizations around the world have begun to use #SOSCUBA on social media to give visibility to what is happening on the island and raise money for food and medicine. On the other hand, many artists of international stature have spoken out in support of the protests and the cries for freedom of Cuban citizens. 

Puerto Rican Ricky Martin has been sharing information on his social media, trying to make sure that the situation does not go unnoticed, and above all, that help can arrive in some way.

Artists such as Daddy Yankee, Residente and Kany García, are also bringing light to the situation in Cuba, but demanding humanitarian aid be sent to the island in one of the worst moments of the pandemic. Cuba's regime, on the other hand, refuses to accept international aid.

Residente asked the international community to "seek an alternative way to the Cuban government," recalling what Puerto Rico went through after the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in September 2017.