Cuban Foreign Minister accuses the United States of causing disturbances on the island

(CNN) – Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla criticized the United States government on Wednesday for what he said was a campaign to “provoke situations of suffering in our people, with the hope of creating the conditions for a social collapse.”

Rodríguez Parrilla blamed the Biden government for plans by opposition groups to hold peaceful protests in Cuba on Monday, even though Cuban officials have vowed not to allow the demonstrations to take place. US officials have threatened to impose sanctions against the communist-run island if the protesters are arrested by Cuban police.

In July, thousands of Cubans took to the streets to demand freedom and better economic conditions in what are believed to be the largest anti-government protests since the 1959 revolution. Following the protests, the Cuban government cracked down on protesters. with mass trials and long prison terms.

This Wednesday, Rodríguez Parrilla said that Facebook had amplified criticism against the Cuban government and made it appear that more critics of the government lived on the island than in reality.

“Facebook could easily, with strict compliance with the law, be sued for these practices against Cuba,” he said.

Rodríguez Parrilla also said that the State Department had offered this Friday to the Cuban embassy in Washington “with many conditions” one million doses of vaccines against the coronavirus for the island.

The Cuban foreign minister called the offer “opportunistic” and said that Cuba would be willing to donate its own homegrown vaccines, along with the vaccines offered by the United States, to a third country in need.