{"id":4860,"date":"2021-07-15T18:39:57","date_gmt":"2021-07-15T18:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/?p=4860"},"modified":"2021-07-15T18:45:11","modified_gmt":"2021-07-15T18:45:11","slug":"bay-of-tweets-twitter-permits-anti-cuba-bot-army-despite-coordinated-inauthentic-behaviour-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/bay-of-tweets-twitter-permits-anti-cuba-bot-army-despite-coordinated-inauthentic-behaviour-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Bay of Tweets\u2019: Twitter Permits Anti-Cuba Bot Army Despite \u2018Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour\u2019 Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bay-of-Tweets.png?resize=747%2C406&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4861\" width=\"747\" height=\"406\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bay-of-Tweets.png?resize=1024%2C556&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bay-of-Tweets.png?resize=300%2C163&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bay-of-Tweets.png?resize=768%2C417&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bay-of-Tweets.png?resize=1536%2C834&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bay-of-Tweets.png?w=1992&amp;ssl=1 1992w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 747px) 100vw, 747px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The United Nations has voted every year since 1992 to condemn the US 60-year embargo of Cuba, which is responsible for shortages in fuel, medicine, and essential parts on the island that have affected the life of every one of its 11.5 million people. Despite the suffering, the US maintains \u201csanctions are tools for democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even before protests broke out in Cuba on Sunday, a coordinated online campaign to spread anti-Cuban messages had begun circulating on Twitter. Not only does the social media giant appear to be uninterested in stopping it, but it has a history of arbitrarily shutting down Cuban government and media accounts as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As reports of\u00a0protests in Cuba\u00a0over brownouts and shortages of medical supplies spread on Sunday, debate on social media raged about the meaning of the demonstrations. Supporters of the Cuban government soon found themselves inundated with replies by accounts with zero followers and that followed zero accounts and had been created within the last few months or even days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>These accounts liked each others\u2019 posts, replied and posted en masse, using similar messages. Some of them even had identical names, like \u201cjohn appleseed,\u201d which appeared at least twice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">How sus is this tho <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ui4k410N9I\">pic.twitter.com\/ui4k410N9I<\/a><\/p>&mdash; HANDS OFF CUBA (THEY\/HE) (@lexi4prez) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lexi4prez\/status\/1414353770952073218?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 11, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Several large accounts reported being quickly inundated, but even users with \u201csmall\u201d accounts and few followers anecdotally noted their posts about Cuba were being replied to by the mystery posters almost instantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The accounts have also retweeted and amplified posts critical of Cuba and its leaders, including\u00a0a July 9 tweet\u00a0by former adult film star Mia Khalifa that tagged Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and said \u201cdude you f*cking suck\u201d and misinformation posts such as a\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lessuarez\/status\/1414400161942474762\" target=\"_blank\">video of Buenos Aires, Argentina<\/a>, that was passed off as \u201cCuba right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bot Armies Prepare Ground for Protests<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the phenomenon didn\u2019t simply start on Sunday: it began building several days earlier with the hashtag #SOSCuba, following the formula used for many other regime change programs directed by the United States, including the 2019 coup d\u2019etat against Bolivian President Evo Morales and attempted coup of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>News portal Dominio Cuba noted on July 9 that a huge number of what it called \u201cbots\u201d were mass-posting identical or nearly identical messages just seconds after one another.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/dominiocuba\/status\/1413650012114989056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1413650012114989056%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&#038;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsputniknews.com%2Flatam%2F202107121083371864-bay-of-tweets-twitter-permits-anti-cuba-bot-army-despite-coordinated-inauthentic-behavior-rules%2F\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">Los trolles, adem\u00e1s, acosan a decenas de influencers. Como son los magos del corte y pega, ni siquiera cambian el mensaje.<br><br>Hola, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TwitterSeguro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TwitterSeguro<\/a> \u00bfsigues ah\u00ed? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1oImvP5b23\">pic.twitter.com\/1oImvP5b23<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Dominio Cuba (@dominiocuba) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dominiocuba\/status\/1413733340298022912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 10, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another account, a well-known pro-Cuban account by the name of Cuban nationalist hero Jose Marti, also made a record of mass harassment on Saturday by the bots.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYesterday, I had to lock my account because it was inundated with bot spam. I&#8217;m still receiving it many hours later,\u201d he posted early Sunday, showing a video of a long list of dozens of spam replies to a post that spoke of the CIA\u2019s history of \u201cprovocation led by paid actors that\u2019s been boosted by imperialist media that channels real grievances that Cubans have (caused by the US blockade) into photogenic protests for the West.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Yesterday, I had to lock my account because it was inundated with bot spam. I&#8217;m still receiving it many hours later.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rafxAcjPnR\">pic.twitter.com\/rafxAcjPnR<\/a>\u2014 Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed (@JoseJuMarti)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JoseJuMarti\/status\/1414576844045750275?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 12, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u200bMarti later quipped that the #SOSCuba Twitter operation would soon be known as the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JoseJuMarti\/status\/1414392407114797062\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cBay of Tweets\u201d<\/a>&nbsp;because, like the US\u2019 failed 1961 coup by Cuban counter-revolutionaries known as the Bay of Pigs, it would be \u201cdefeated in three days with a revolution better secured than ever.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Twitter\u2019s Lost Enthusiasm for Crackdowns<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These types of coordinated campaigns directed at nations targeted by the US for regime change are far from new:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thegrayzone.com\/2020\/09\/06\/cls-strategies-facebook-propaganda-venezuela-bolivia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Grayzone reported<\/a>&nbsp;last year on how Facebook took down a US-based operation run by \u201cstrategic communications\u201d firm CLS Strategies in support of the Venezuelan and Bolivian coup efforts in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>However, it\u2019s far more common for the shoe to be on the other foot, as Twitter, Facebook, and Google have made a habit of\u00a0taking down accounts\u00a0that post or repost stories in support of or that even just cast in a favorable light various governments the US has provoked crises in,\u00a0including China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sometimes these takedowns are justified by what Twitter claims is&nbsp;\u201ccoordinated inauthentic behaviour,\u201d&nbsp;but other times the takedowns are massive and done without explanation. That\u2019s what happened on September 11, 2019, just minutes before Diaz-Canel was due to address the Cuban people about new measures intended to help the country survive a fuel shortage created by the tightening US embargo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Twitter silenced dozens of prominent accounts, including news outlets like Mesa Redonda, CubaDebate, and the Communist Party of Cuba\u2019s official paper, Granma, as well as many of the outlets\u2019 reporters; some of the accounts had hundreds of thousands of followers. Twitter also suspended the accounts of several government ministries and prominent politicians, including then-CPC First Secretary Raul Castro and National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) director Mariela Castro Espin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Havana Points to \u2018Communicational Operation\u2019 in Protests<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the protests broke out on Sunday, Cuban government officials reached out to the communities in an attempt to address their concerns, which included intermittent electricity supply due to power being rerouted to city hospitals, which are being flooded with patients amid a spike in COVID-19 cases. However, other demonstrators were more violent,&nbsp;fighting with police&nbsp;and flipping over police cars.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>In all cases, international media amplified the protests and cast them as \u201ca major new challenge to an authoritarian government,\u201d as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2021\/07\/11\/cuba-protests\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the Washington Post<\/a>&nbsp;put it, echoing the line taken by US President Joe Biden and members of his administration.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba\u2019s authoritarian regime,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2021\/07\/12\/statement-by-president-joseph-r-biden-jr-on-protests-in-cuba\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Biden said on Monday<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His press secretary, Jen Psaki, told reporters Monday that there was &#8220;every indication&#8221; that the weekend protests in Cuba were &#8220;spontaneous&#8221; and &#8220;inspired by the harsh realities of daily life,\u201d and not by shortages created by a 60-year-long embargo by the United States designed to strangle the Cuban economy. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Trump administration&nbsp;increased pressure&nbsp;on Cuba even further than it already had, and the Biden administration has followed the same path, including keeping Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, to which it was arbitrarily added just days before Donald Trump left office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno&nbsp;Rodriguez Parrilla rejected&nbsp;the US characterisation of the protests, saying Monday they \u201cwere not a social uprising, but disorder, disturbances caused by a communicational operation that had been prepared for some time and to which millions of dollars had been committed.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indeed, in 2014, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2014\/apr\/03\/us-cuban-twitter-zunzuneo-stir-unrest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Associated Press revealed<\/a>&nbsp;that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had created an alternative to Twitter that was intended to sow dissent on the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Called ZunZuneo, after the Cuban name for a hummingbird\u2019s tweet, the program \u201cevaded Cuba\u2019s digital restrictions by creating a text-messaging service that could be used to organize political demonstrations. It drew tens of thousands of subscribers who were unaware it was backed by Washington, which went to great lengths to conceal its involvement,\u201d the AP reported at the time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In FY 2021 (i.e. now) the State Dept. got $10 million for the Economic Support Fund, which it notes aims to &quot;Identify and engage the next generation of Cuban civil society leaders.&quot;<br><br>In other words, to find, reach &amp; coordinate with the ppl who led these protests. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DKaaWlIfET\">pic.twitter.com\/DKaaWlIfET<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Morgan Artyukhina (@LavenderNRed) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LavenderNRed\/status\/1414717104914374658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 12, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More recently, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/bulkdata\/BILLS\/117\/1\/hr\/BILLS-117hr4373rh.xml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">House appropriations bill<\/a>&nbsp;for the Department of State\u2019s budget for fiscal year 2022 that was introduced last week requests tens of millions of dollars for influence operations directed at Cuba. Some of the requests include $9.7 million for \u201cbroadcasting capital improvements\u201d by the United States Agency for Global Media, which manages US state-run propaganda outlets like Voice of America and Radio y Television Marti, the latter of which is based in Miami, Florida, and broadcasts toward Cuba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>The bill also says that no less than $5 million and no more than $20 million from the Economic Support Fund must go toward supporting \u201cfree enterprise and private business organizations\u201d and \u201cpeople-to-people educational and cultural activities.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">source: Sputnik<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United Nations has voted every year since 1992 to condemn the US 60-year embargo of Cuba, which is responsible for shortages in fuel, medicine,<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/bay-of-tweets-twitter-permits-anti-cuba-bot-army-despite-coordinated-inauthentic-behaviour-rules\/\"> [&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4861,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[43,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-us-aggression"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5205,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/max-blumenthal-the-social-media-war-on-cuba\/","url_meta":{"origin":4860,"position":0},"title":"Max Blumenthal &#8211; The social media war on Cuba","author":"Editorial Team","date":"September 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uGINhPv8ZZY Max Blumenthal from the Grayzone speaking at' The social media war on Cuba' hosted by Rock Around the Blockade on 12 September 2021. Visit www.thegrayzone.com for investigative journalism and analysis 11 July 2021 saw the first violent protests in Cuba since the 'Maleconazo' of 1994, which occurred in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Featured&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/news\/featured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2021-09-19-at-08.10.48.png?fit=771%2C379&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2021-09-19-at-08.10.48.png?fit=771%2C379&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2021-09-19-at-08.10.48.png?fit=771%2C379&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2021-09-19-at-08.10.48.png?fit=771%2C379&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4885,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/whats-actually-going-on-in-cuba\/","url_meta":{"origin":4860,"position":1},"title":"What\u2019s Actually Going on in Cuba?","author":"Editorial Team","date":"July 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Don't believe everything you read on social\u00a0media. by\u00a0Helen Yaffe 20 July 2021 On Sunday 11 July, dozens of anti-government protests, apparently coordinated via social media, took place simultaneously throughout Cuba. In several places, including in San Antonio on the outskirts of Havana and in Matanzas, where Covid-19 cases have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Featured&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/news\/featured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/000264330004-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C795&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/000264330004-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C795&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/000264330004-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C795&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/000264330004-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C795&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/000264330004-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C795&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4937,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/bidens-policy-on-cuba-reveals-itself\/","url_meta":{"origin":4860,"position":2},"title":"Biden\u2019s Policy on Cuba Reveals Itself","author":"Editorial Team","date":"July 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The assumption that military intervention would fix Cuba only illustrates how the interests of the Miami dissidents are aligned with those of the U.S. As protests erupted in Cuba over shortages of basic necessities, the decades-long illegal U.S. blockade on Cuba was no longer a part of mainstream media narratives.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;US Aggression&quot;","block_context":{"text":"US Aggression","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/usa\/us-aggression\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_6955-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_6955-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_6955-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_6955-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_6955-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4923,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/cuba-july-26-as-a-day-to-defend-understand-and-celebrate-the-cuban-revolution\/","url_meta":{"origin":4860,"position":3},"title":"Cuba: July 26 as a day to defend, understand and celebrate the Cuban revolution","author":"Editorial Team","date":"July 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Written by: Aidan Jonah Cuba has been under attack from the United States and many of their western allies since their revolution in 1959. The vicious embargo the US placed on Cuba was specifically intended to cause intense suffering to ordinary citizens, as the revolution had, and continues to have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Featured&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/news\/featured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/26-julio-2018.jpg?fit=960%2C639&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/26-julio-2018.jpg?fit=960%2C639&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/26-julio-2018.jpg?fit=960%2C639&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/26-julio-2018.jpg?fit=960%2C639&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3046,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/u-s-government-sanctions-against-fincimex-hurt-the-cuban-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":4860,"position":4},"title":"U.S. government sanctions against Fincimex hurt the Cuban people","author":"Editorial Team","date":"October 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Family remittances to Cuba have been politicized by the anti-Cuban right wing in the United States. 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