"They're so hungry, they've eaten their fear," said Fonseca.
Dr. Jorge Camacho, a Cuban professor of Spanish and Latin American Literature and Comparative Studies at USC, knows firsthand what protests are like on the island.
"I was part of the first intellectual group who protested against the Cuban government in 1989," said Camacho. "Some of us suffered the police brutality. They came to our homes."
He attributes the worsening economic crisis in Cuba to increased sanctions and new laws put in place by the United States over the past five years.
"What is happening is unprecedented," said Camacho. "People are complaining about food shortages, lack of vaccinations, they're complaining about lack of freedom. Everything boiled down to this moment."