Aleida Guevara March, Ernesto "Che" Guevara's daughter, described the Cubans who have been protesting since July 11 as "unscrupulous people," "fools," and "low-class."
In an audio recording broadcasted on Thursday, July 15th on the program 'Salir por arriba' of the Argentine radio station Radio Rebelde AM 740, Guevara March considered the protesters as "truly low-class people, people who have no scruples at all, who have taken to the streets and then some fools follow them."
Recognizing that these days "we have communication problems," pediatrician Guevara recounted that "some things" were happening on the island "manipulated by the United States."
But the truth is that the people have reacted very well and are controlling the situation. And we are demanding that the police act and defend what is ours," said the daughter of the Argentine guerrilla, a staunch supporter of the Cuban regime.
"It can't be!", Guevara exclaimed on the southern airwaves. "Nobody can be allowed to attack a state property, a property of the people. It can't be!", insisted the regime's spokesperson.
According to Guevara March, the protesters chanting "Freedom" and "Homeland and Life" are nothing more than thugs and ignorants, "because if you enter a store and steal what is there, you are stealing from the people." These are "people without scruples and paid by the United States," Guevara March concluded regarding the Cubans who have protested at more than 100 points across the island and who, according to images published on social media, looted several MLC stores in the country.
According to information published by official sources, before four o'clock on Sunday in Cuba, 25 state-owned stores had been attacked, or MLC stores, as they are known for their currency collection function. Stores that do not belong to the people, but to GAESA and the military, which sell imported goods monopolized by the regime, with abusive markups, two or three times higher than their market value. Stores that belong to the extractive elites of the regime, not to the people, as Guevara says.
On its part, the YouTube channel of Diario Canarias Semanal published on Friday, July 16th, a supposed leaked audio with explanations of the protests in Cuba provided by Aleida Guevara March.
For Che Guevara's daughter, those who went out to protest in Cuba are "people without morals and without any ethics. The lowest of society; the dirtiest people. The most adverse people... Who knows! It's such a vulgar, absurd thing, really, that you realize it's totally a marginal thing."
The peaceful demonstrations of the people demanding "freedom" with the cry of "Homeland and Life" are nothing more than provoked and paid acts by the United States for Guevara March. "People have no shame in saying it," he stated.
"They are small groups of people who take advantage of the situation that Cuba is experiencing with an increasingly fierce and tremendous blockade to provoke this kind of thing. And people who allow themselves to be manipulated," he opined.
"Of course, the vast majority have not, and they have taken to the streets to fight for their land, for their revolution," considered the regime supporter, stating that they did not want confrontations, "but we are not going to allow these vandals to come and break into stores, to smash windows, to overturn cars. Who has seen that? No, no way! That has to be completely combated!"
"We are demanding that the Revolutionary National Police take drastic measures in this regard, because we cannot allow that in any way. This is what the people demand. We must defend our sovereignty, we must defend the Cuban citizen. Therefore, those individuals who are mercenaries must not in any way be engaging in these activities," he added.
In mid-November, while the hunger strike of several activists from the San Isidro Movement (MSI) demanding the release of rapper Denis Solís was taking place, the strikers included in their demands the closure of MLC stores. They viewed it as unjust that the country was experiencing shortages and hardship due to widespread scarcity, while the government sold essential products in these stores for a currency that it did not use to pay its workers. This crisis further exacerbated the decision made last June to suspend dollar deposits.
The petition echoed the feelings of many Cubans who were outraged by the situation. Last October, a large number of citizens demanded the closure of dollar stores through Facebook.
"Let's demand that they close the stores in dollars and supply the stores in Cuban currency, it is our right, we do not earn in dollars, how many say they do?" proposed a post published on the Facebook page of Cubavisión Noticias de Cuba y el Mundo.
At the end of November, a call published on social media urged the people of Havana to demonstrate in front of the Ministry of Internal Trade, protesting against the MLC stores, whose existence is based on a perverse and extractive logic of the currencies of Cubans -mainly those in exile- and which have sparked outrage and weariness among a Cuban population hit by shortages, queues, the pandemic, and the incompetence of its rulers.
Now, after the peak of the 11J protests and with the repressive apparatus focused on punishing the protesters, Guevara March concludes that "the situation is calm. These small groups may appear at some point somewhere, but everything is very well controlled by now. So, there's no trouble at all, no issues, and we are ready for combat."
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