This year marks the second anniversary of the Cuban regime’s violent suppression of peaceful protests and demonstrations across the island nation. Two years ago, on July 11, 2021, thousands of Cubans participated in a mass nationwide protest, peacefully demanding that their government adopt basic civil liberties and political freedoms. The scale of the protests caught the Cuban regime by surprise, as it did the rest of the world. But the Cuban regime’s response was, unfortunately, not surprising.

In the midst of protests that were rapidly spreading from city to city across the island, Cuban leader Miguel Diaz-Canel took to national television to incite violence against these peaceful protesters by telling the regime’s supporters and security forces that “the order to fight has been given.” Adding, “we’re ready for anything and we’ll be in the streets fighting. There are many of us revolutionaries in this town who are willing to give our lives … And this is not a slogan, it is a conviction. They protesters have to go over our dead bodies if they want to confront the revolution.” Seizing upon the combative language promulgated by its leadership, the Cuban regime then confronted its citizenry in the streets, and in their own homes, with bloody brutality. It immediately cracked down on the protesters with intimidation, force, and unlawful detentions.