Tensions rose in front of the White House Sunday as a small group of socialists in defense of the Cuban communist regime attempted to confront \u2026<\/b>
\nTensions rose in front of the White House Sunday as a small group of socialists in defense of the Cuban communist regime attempted to confront a peaceful assembly in support of the rights of Cuban people. Lilia Gort, who was participating in the much larger assembly against communism, came from Tampa, Florida, because, as she told Breitbart News, \u201cWe want freedom for our people in Cuba. The Cuban people don\u2019t have any rights. We don\u2019t have freedom of speech. It\u2019s been like this for 61 years or more. The children don\u2019t have any food. They don\u2019t have medicine.\u201d \u201cThe people are being pulled out of their houses right now and they are being killed because on July 11, they went out on the streets to protest because they are tired of living in misery,\u201d Gort continued, appearing to reference video footage smuggled out of Cuba of state security conducting door-to-door raids and shooting unarmed civilians in their homes, sometimes in front of their children. \u201cThey are tired of not being able to speak and say what they want to say. They have no food. They have nothing,\u201d Gort continued. \u201cThey need our help. They need President Biden to step up.\u2026 All we want is freedom. We don\u2019t want no money. We don\u2019t want COVID [coronavirus] shots. We need help. That\u2019s what we want.\u201d Cuban-American Abraham Corces came from New York City to D.C. to protest in support \u201cfor the Cuban people and to ask for freedom.\u201d Corces said, \u201c I would like Sleepy Joe to wake up and see that communism and socialism is a failed system and our neighbors 90 miles away need our help right now, the same way we\u2019ve helped many other nations.\u201d (emphasis added) Cuban-Americans calling for freedom created a living art piece representing what is happening in Cuba. The demonstration served as the background while speakers called for the end of the Castro Regime. Authorities separated the pro-regime group, which claimed to assemble to call for an end to the few sanctions still in place on the Castro regime, from the Cuban-Americans with an orange plastic barrier in the park. They passed out copies of Liberation, the \u201cNewspaper of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.\u201d Despite attempts for interviews, all members of this group who were asked declined. Breitbart News obtained a copy of the socialist paper, which claimed the protests on July 11 \u201cinvolved elements that receive money and other support from the U.S. government.\u201d No evidence has surfaced to support U.S. involvement in the protests, most of them spontaneous, since the protests began. The socialists claimed sanctions on high-ranking, and extremely wealthy, Castro regime officials caused \u201cgrave shortages of food, medicines, electricity and other necessities of life.\u201d In reality, American sanctions on Cuba exempt humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, and the U.S. has no involvement in any way with the failures of the Cuban power grid. \u201c In 2019, the United States exported millions worth of U.S. medical goods to #Cuba, \u201c Julie Chung, current acting assistant secretary for the U.S. state department\u2019s bureau of Western hemisphere affairs, posted on Twitter last year: Fact: The United States routinely authorizes the export of humanitarian goods, agricultural products, medicine, and medical equipment to support the Cuban people. In 2019, the United States exported millions worth of U.S. medical goods to #Cuba. Julie Chung (@WHAAsstSecty) April 3, 2020 Liberation also falsely claimed, \u201cThere are elections in Cuba\u2026 Unlike in the United States, corporations and rich donors play no role in elections.\u201d According to Freedom House, a human rights organization, \u201cCuba is a one-party communist state that outlaws political pluralism, bans independent media, suppresses dissent, and severely restricts basic civil liberties.\u201d No candidates outside of those approved by the Party appear on the few election ballots organized by the regime. When asked about the counterprotesters, Gort told Breitbart News, \u201cThey don\u2019t care about the Cuban people. They want communism. So, if they want communism, why aren\u2019t they in Cuba? Why did they come here? Why are they standing there?\u201d \u201cThey don\u2019t give a damn about the Cuban people. All they care about is sitting there and talking a lot of bull,\u201d Gort added. \u201cThey don\u2019t have families like us. There\u2019s mothers here.\u2026 Their children are being killed. Okay? Those people probably don\u2019t have them, because if they did, they won\u2019t be there.\u201d Carlos Monzon traveled from Cuba to the United States when he was 6 years old on a boat to the Florida Keys. He said, \u201cThat island is not a beautiful paradise. It\u2019s hell. It really is hell.\u201d \u201cI want Cubans to be free. It\u2019s hard, because like, I voted for the guy in the [White] House right now and all I want is unfettered internet.\u201d Internet in Cuba was shut down this month in an attempt to silence protesters and prevent them from organizing. While Monzon said he\u2019s not in favor of capitalism and thinks it needs checks and balances, he says when it comes down to socialism versus capitalism, he will support capitalism, \u201c10 out of 10 times.\u201d Shortly before leaving office, then-President Barack Obama ended the long-standing \u201c Wet Foot, Dry Foot \u201d policy that allowed Cubans who arrive across the Straits of Florida to automatically obtain legal status in the United States. \u201cObama lifted the sanction that got me into this country. That actually, genuinely, was\u2026 a stab in the heart,\u201d Monzon said. He wore a shirt with the phrase, \u201cIt\u2019s not the embargo.\u201d Monzon explained, \u201cWe don\u2019t want the embargo lifted\u201d because trade will support the communist dictatorship. The Communist Party controls all businesses on the island \u2013 including hotels, tourist restaurants and bars, and stores where Cubans can buy basic goods only through the use of ration cards. Even remittances to family in Cuba, Monzon contended, would ultimately fund the repression of the Cuban people. Olga Gil came to the United States from Cuba as a teenager. She told Breitbart News the protests are not about the embargo, but about freedom. \u201cThe people in Cuba, even the young generation, are asking for freedom. They are able to provide everything for themselves. They could provide food. They are very hardworking people. We need freedom,\u201d she said. \u201cThey [Cuban people] want a future for themselves.\u201d In a plea to the Biden Administration, Gort told Breitbart News, \u201cI want them [the Biden administration] to help us get freedom, because when Biden needed a lot of our Cuban votes, because I\u2019m from Florida. And when him and Kamala came to Florida and he wanted our help, I was one of the ones, just like millions of Cubans, voted for him and he hasn\u2019t done anything for us. Nothing. He needs to step up because he has helped a lot of other countries. Why not Cuba? Is he a communist too? That is my question for you Biden. I voted for you. You haven\u2019t done nothing for my people.\u201d According to Pew Research Center,1.4 million Cuban-Americans were eligible to vote in 2018. An NBC News exit poll revealed 55 percent of Cuban-Americans in Florida voted for Trump in 2020.<\/p>\n