One person has died in anti-government protests in Cuba, the country’s state-run media confirmed on Tuesday (July 13). According to Reuters, the man, a 36-year-old protester named Diubis Laurencio Tejeda, was killed and several others were injured during a demonstration late Monday night (July 12).
The protest reportedly erupted in the southern Havana suburb of La Guinera, where witnesses said police opened fire on protesters who threw rocks at them. Tejeda’s official cause of death has not been confirmed, but the government did say that multiple protesters and security officers were hospitalized with injuries.
A notice from the Ministry of the Interior, which identified Tejeda, claimed he was part of a group vandalizing government buildings and died “in the midst of a complex scenario.” No other deaths have been reported.
The government-run outlet Radio Rebelde also said on Tuesday that around 100 people have been arrested since protests began this weekend. During a call with congressional staff this week, the U.S. State Department put the exact number of detainees at 99. However, Cubalex, a pro-Democracy group in Cuba, says 136 people have been arrested or are missing.
Reuters, which spoke with witnesses at Monday’s La Guinera protest, said hundreds of people took to the streets shouting, “Down with communism” and, “Freedom for the people of Cuba.”
“I think the Communists have lost control. They won’t have a solution to this situation,” one resident, Waldo Herrera, told the outlet. “The people are tired of so much humiliation, so much repression.”
On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security said people fleeing from Cuba and Haiti by boat will not be allowed to enter the U.S.
“Allow me to be clear: if you take to the sea, you will not come to the United States,” Secretary Alejandro Mayorka said. He added that even asylum-seekers with a “well-founded fear of persecution or torture” will be “referred to third countries for resettlement.”