white house and the cuban embassy saturday. many came by bus from the miami area. limited social media posts indicate antigovernment protests are still going on in cuba, havana, and other places. saturday, former president raúl castro joined thousand of people in a pro-government rally in havana, pushed, of course, by the cuban government. pope francis is calling for peace and dialogue in cuba following these protests. another fact though, cuba now has the highest rate of coves infections per capita in latin america. joining us tonight marco rubio member of the senate intelligence and also appropriation and foreign relations committees. senator, thanks for the time tonight. thanks, bret. bret: a lot of topics to get. to say start off with cuba where you see these antigovernment protests going and what do you think is possible next? first of all, cuba today is basically in a state of martial law and many of the mainly cities across the country, troops are stationed security
economic situation. we know of them and their demonstrations at least five neighborhoods in havana, and in a number of towns across the island. police have had to detained a number of protesters in an attempt to control the crowd. pro-government counter protesters supported the officers shouting things like, this street belongs to fidel. and nbc news producer in havana reported that anti government protesters said statements like down with tyranny, and homeland with life. in miami s little havana neighborhood, people watched live streams of the protests and held demonstrations in solidarity. joining us now to discuss it is laura rodriguez, she s a reporter with wta jay, nbc s sixth in miami. she s on the ground there. we re also joined by carlos capela, msnbc political analyst, and former congressman from the miami area. laura, let me start with you in south florida. it looks like i m guessing, you are on southwest eighth street, kyoto right in the middle of the political heart of mi
important place for the cuban community, and i think that s why there is such a show of support here, to let the cuban people know they are not alone, because they could definitely face a lot of backlash for these protests on the island. before we go, carlos, what do you expect in the days and weeks to come both in south florida and perhaps in cuba. i m sure the cuban government will not let this go unaddressed, but i m not sure what shape cuba is in now, if there is support for the cuban people if things have come this far. if the protests are that widespread on the island, that kind of courageous against the government, what do you expect to happen next? well, joshua, miguel dias canell, the leader that the castro family appointed when fidel castro stepped down, they
congressman in the miami area. laura, let me start with you in southwest florida. i m guessing you re in little haiti, right near the heart of the cuba community. what is it like there and what has the response been like? reporter: that is exactly where i am. this is completely packed, a massive crowd out here. cuban americans and a mix of people, i ve seen nicaraguans supporting cubans here. i m going to pan over so you can look at the scene right now. it has grown over the last few hours. this is not letting up. you can see dozens of cuban flags, many people holding signs saying s.o.s. cuba. also many people holding signs that say meaning human is
asked the revolutionaries to quash these protests. he is currently turning down a civil war in this country so he can remain in power. when i say he, it s the castro family because that s who he represents. in washington, d.c., this is an opportunity for the biden administration. a foreign policy opportunity, obviously, but also a political opportunity. president biden did not get the support in south florida that hillary clinton got four years before. and this is an opportunity for president biden, his administration, to show solidarity with the cuban people and to show south florida s cuban-american communities and other communities that laura mentioned, in this case waug