they said they were sick of energy shortages and empty store shelves. many complained about the government s coronavirus response. the economy here has been deeply, deeply damaged. it was already ailing before the pandemic but now with more than a year of almost no tourism, very little tourism to the island, people are hurting. and many of the people said they were not afraid anymore. they had nothing left to lose. in front of the officers, they criticized the government, they called for a change. so far those calls have fallen on deaf ears. with you saw people taken away violently. we saw the government taken away the counter protesters that said they supported the revolution, they tried to drown out the protesters. and cuba s president, the successor to the castros, said the supporters of the revolution needed to take to the streets.
which show themselves not to succeed in the aspirations that they had. in fact, i have given the white house a white paper on a whole host of policy options that they should consider as it relates to how do we embrace the cuban people but at the same time make it clear to its dictatorship. because diaz-canel is a different name than the castros, but he is cut of the same cloth. his verbiage and his features are all of the same thing. and so when the cuban people say that in fact they want to see change, [ speaking foreign language ] what does that mean? it means country and life. yes, they can have a life and their country. but it doesn t have to be under the circumstances that exist now. let s talk about some democratic priorities because today president biden met with attorney general merrick garland and local law enforcement leaders and mayors about reducing violent crime. the new biden plan includes using some excess covid relief funds to hire more police officers. do you support
communist marxist evil tyranny so far not a word. not a word. not a statement from joe biden, from the vice president, from the white house. not a word. why are they so uncomfortable coming forward and just condemning this evil socialist, marxist regime? it s been 62 years while these people have been out there suffering and then i see this tweet here from the state department. got a socialist regime that says to people enough to freedom, you have no independence. you have no ability to speak freely but you have a really good healthcare system. they don t. of course covid has a role to play. this began well before covid. these people are frustrated. they want to live in a normal country. why can t the state department. why can t the white house just say it clearly this is about freedom. say it. brian: because this is the about the castros they recognize the castro regime even though one is dead and one is retired and be dead soon hopefully. they don t seem to even want to touch this po
wears better suits than the castros. he s the same person. he s a dictator. the cuban people are incredibly brave to stand up against them. the secret police may be knocking on their doors tonight, this is not a campus protest. this has real stakes for the protesters. they could have the secret police dragging them in to dungeons tonight. he will be held personally accountable for the rights of the cuban people. third, we need maximum pressure on the regime, this is a time not to relax sanctions, not to side with the regime but to side with the people of cuba and put maximum pressure to bring this situation to a conclusion. and bring liberty. they re not protesting against the pandemic. that is what was coming out of the state department yesterday. they re not protesting against food prices or covid-19. they want their freedom.
people being taken away by the police. we saw the government sending in their own counterprotestors that said they supported the revolution to try to drown out the anti-government protestors. and cuba s president, successor to the castros, said that the supporters of the revolution needed to take to the streets, needed to defend the revolution, and he was giving them an order to flood the streets to defend their government. so far at least, despite these calls for change, unprecedented calls for change, the cuban government does not appear to be giving an inch. as the delta variant prompts concerns of a new surge of covid infections, drugmaker pfizer is set to brief u.s. officials on vaccine boosters today. last week, pfizer reported reduced immunity among people who received their shots a while ago. and said they would seek