that the united states stands with the people of cuba, those who are demonstrating peacefully in the street and, again, to the regime which is repressing them, as they typically do, with violence and encouraging cubans to turn against one another. by the way, hallie, this also has important political implications. in 2020 that s a lot of support in south florida from the hispanic community. a statement like this goes a long way toward showing south florida s hispanic community that the administration is paying attention to what is happening in cuba and that they are on the right side of the issue. former congressman carlos cribella. thank you for being with us as we follow the developing news. speaking of developing news we have more to get to on this monday morning. you have pfizer meeting with the fda today to talk about the possibility of another booster shot as the number of covid cases around the country goes up. we are talking with one of our medical experts about the
read it in its entirety. it is like eight sentences, saying, we stand with the cuba pneumonia and their call for relief from the grip of the pandemic and from decades of repression and economic suffering to which they ve been rejected by cuba s athousand tarian regime. the cuban people are asserting fundamental rights including the right of peaceful protests and the right to free di determine their own future must be respected. president biden wraps up his statement on the unrest in cuba by saying, the united states calls on the cuban regime to hear their people and serve their needs at this vital moment rather than enriching themselves. congressman, that s our statement from president biden coming in to us as we speak here on msnbc reports. i wonder your reaction on what we heard from the president? hallie, it is a strong statement. it captures exactly what is happening in cuba. it sends a message to the world
these protests are not only about covid and food shortages in the country. they are about basic human rights. the cuban people want the freedoms that we enjoy here in the united states, and certainly president biden did capture that in his statement. you also, you know, can t talk about what is happening in cuba right now without talking about the sanctions that the trump administration put in place and the impact on that. there s also the question that some have been asking, you know, about why now, why at this moment. while covid and the pandemic is obviously not to blame for the entirety of these demonstrations, it does seem to be in some ways the spark that lit the match over the last 24 hours or so. well, certainly. covid, the food shortages, the regime s mishandling of the pandemic catalyzed these protests, but if you hear the