People participate in demonstrations in Havana July 11. Thousands of Cubans took to the streets across the country to protest a lack of food and medicine as the country undergoes an economic crisis aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic and U.S. sanctions. (CNS/Reuters)
Bogotá, Colombia — The Cuban bishops' conference called on the island's government and protesters to "listen to each other" and avoid violence as the country reels from demonstrations sparked by food shortages, power outages and worsening economic conditions.
The protests which broke out July 11 were the largest in decades. They were quickly repressed by the island's communist government, which arrested dozens of people, cut access to the internet and also detained — and then released — a priest who was trying to protect young protesters from police.