Headline News

Bafaw Royal Family Scandal: Ekoko Mukete’s claim disputed

16, July 2021

Bafaw Royal Family Scandal: Ekoko Mukete’s claim disputed 0

A new paramount leader of the Bafaws was named by the late Chief V.E.Mukete. The legendary West Cameroon politician handed over the throne to his son, Ekoko Mukete amid scenes of unreported chaos after members of the Bafaw royal family questioned Prince Ekoko Mukete’s claim to the title.

The controversy over who will be the next king of the Bafaws, a largely ceremonial role but one with great significance for English speaking Cameroonians in Meme Division arose after the death of Chief V.E. Mukete.

The late VE Mukete had apparently named one of his children, Ekoko Mukete as his successor in front of the then Bafaw traditional council. But events are now taking a dramatic U-turn as Prince Emmanuel Mukete Mukete recently released a video in which he disputed Ekoko Mukete’s claim throwing the Bafaw royal succession into turmoil.

Underneath the dispute is the fate of Bafaw royal assets, royalties paid by the Kumba City Council and the vast amounts of land traditionally owned by the Bafaws and now held by the VE Mukete children.

The Bafaw royal family has no political or even constitutional position, but their traditional authority is recognized in the entire Bafaw kingdom and even beyond.

In the coming days Cameroon Concord News and Cameroon Intelligence Report will both be publishing a frank, candid and thoughtful key into understanding the Bafaw Royal Family and the emergence of Prince Emmanuel Mukete Mukete.

By Isong Asu and Soter Agbaw-Ebai

Hundreds missing in Germany after massive floods leave scores dead

16, July 2021

Hundreds missing in Germany after massive floods leave scores dead 0

German emergency responders were on Friday still searching for hundreds of missing people after the worst floods in living memory killed at least 81 in the country’s west.

“I fear that we will only see the full extent of the disaster in the coming days,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said from Washington, where she met with President Joe Biden.

Catching residents of several regions unaware and leaving destruction and despair in their wake, the masses of water were dubbed the “flood of death” by top-selling daily Bild.

Neighbouring Belgium counted at least nine dead, while Luxembourg and the Netherlands were also severely affected by the torrents of water, with thousands evacuated in the city of Maastricht.

But Germany’s toll was by far the highest at 81, and likely to rise with large numbers of people still missing in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, the hardest-hit states.

“It is a catastrophe. There are dead, missing and many are still in danger,” says Malu Dreyer, President of German state of Rheinland Pfalz, hit by devastating floods.

In the devastated Ahrweiler district of Rhineland-Palatinate around 1,300 people were unaccounted for, although local authorities told Bild the high number was likely down to damaged phone networks.

Regional interior minister Roger Lewentz told broadcaster SWR that “we believe there are still 40, 50 or 60 people missing, and when you haven’t heard for people for such a long time … you have to fear the worst.”

“The number of victims will likely keep rising in the coming days,” he added.

‘Disaster’

What’s more, continuing rain is forecast for parts of the west, where water levels in the Rhine river and its tributaries are rising dangerously.

Around 1,000 soldiers have been deployed to help with rescue operations and rubble-clearing in affected towns and villages.

Streets and houses under water, overturned cars and uprooted trees could be seen everywhere the floodwaters had passed, while some districts were cut off from the outside world.

In Ahrweiler several houses collapsed completely, leaving the impression the town had been struck by a tsunami.

At least 20 people had been confirmed dead in Euskirchen, one of the worst-hit towns just to the north.

Its normally spick and span centre had been turned into a heap of rubble, with house facades torn off by the rushing floods.

Adding to the town’s woes, a nearby dam remains at risk of giving way.

“My empathy and my heart go out to all of those who in this catastrophe lost their loved ones, or who are still worrying about the fate of people still missing,” Merkel told reporters in Washington.

She said her government would not leave those affected “alone with their suffering”, adding that it was doing its “utmost to help them in their distress”.

Pensioner Annemarie Mueller, 65, looking out at her flooded garden and garage from her balcony, said her town of Mayen had been completely unprepared for the destruction.

“Where did all this rain come from? It’s crazy,” she told AFP, recalling the floodwater crashing through her street during the night.

“It made such a loud noise and given how fast it came down, we thought it would break the door down.”

Four people are still missing in Belgium and the army has been sent to four of the country’s 10 provinces to help with rescue and evacuations.

With homes under water since Wednesday, people from resort town Spa were being put up in tents.

The swollen Meuse river “is going to look very dangerous for Liege”, a nearby city of 200,000 people, said Wallonia regional president Elio Di Rupo.

Climate change?

The storms have put climate change back at the centre of Germany’s election campaign ahead of a September 26 parliamentary poll marking the end of Merkel’s 16 years in power.

Germany “must prepare much better” in future, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said, adding that “this extreme weather is a consequence of climate change”.

Because a warmer atmosphere holds more water, climate change increases the risk and intensity of flooding from extreme rainfall.

In urban areas with poor drainage and buildings located in flood zones, the damage can be severe.

Political candidates were quick to open a bidding war on climate following the floods.

North Rhine-Westphalia premier Armin Laschet, the conservative running to succeed Merkel, called for “speeding up” global efforts to fight climate change, underlining the link between global warming and extreme weather.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Douala: Former Minister’s son killed

15, July 2021

Douala: Former Minister’s son killed 0

Fabien Haiwe Adoum, son of the former Minister of Sports and Physical Education Adouma Garoua was reportedly murdered by unknown gunmen at his residence in Douala.

The 20-year-old’s body was discovered on Tuesday, July 13, 2021 in a state of decomposition.

Fabien Haiwe Adoum’s relatives said he disappeared since last week and was found following a very strong and unpleasant smell that rocked the entire neighborhood.

Alerted following this macabre discovery, the fire department removed the corpse to one of the Douala mortuaries and an investigation was opened to clarify the cause and circumstances of this death.

Fabien Haiwe Adoum recently completed his studies at the Saint Jerome Catholic University in Douala defending his thesis less than two weeks ago and obtained a degree in engineering in front of his dad Adouma Garoua.

By John Shufai

The reporter is not a staff with Cameroon Concord News Group

WHO warns of ‘dangerous’ variants as Covid cases rise globally

15, July 2021

WHO warns of ‘dangerous’ variants as Covid cases rise globally 0

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Thursday that “more dangerous” variants of Covid-19 could tear across the world as global infections soared to half a million daily, largely driven by the virulent Delta strain.

An AFP tally of official sources found that after an initial dip, cases have been rising again worldwide since the end of June, topping 540,000 on Tuesday and again on Wednesday.

“The pandemic is nowhere near finished,” the WHO’s emergency committee said in a statement.

It highlighted “the strong likelihood for the emergence and global spread of new and possibly more dangerous variants of concern that may be even more challenging to control”.

The virus has reappeared in places long believed to have dodged the worst of the pandemic, with Australia — lauded for its successful “Covid zero” strategy — facing a resurgence that has grown to almost 1,000 cases nationwide in a month.

About 12 million Australians went under stay-at-home orders in the country’s second biggest city Melbourne, joining residents in Sydney.

State premier Dan Andrews said he took the decision to return the city — and surrounding Victoria — to its fifth lockdown “with a heavy heart”.

“Nothing about this virus is fair,” he said.

– Sports events headache –

The coronavirus continues to wreak havoc from Asia to Africa, killing more than four million people since it first emerged in China in December 2019.

In Tokyo — now just over a week away from the opening ceremony of the virus-postponed Olympics — local authorities recorded 1,308 new cases, the highest number since January.

Organisers confirmed that an athlete in Japan and five Olympic workers, mostly contractors, had tested positive for Covid-19.

This came after eight staff at a hotel hosting Brazil’s Olympic judo team tested positive, and a staff member from Russia’s rugby sevens team was hospitalised after a positive test.

Covid-19 is posing a unique challenge for organisers of sports events.

Three members of the McLaren Formula One team tested positive, including chief executive officer Zak Brown, the British outfit announced Thursday, ahead of the British GP in Silverstone.

And India wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant tested positive as the squad prepared for a Test series in England.

– Africa deaths surge –

Countries where healthcare infrastructure — and vaccine rollout capabilities — remain limited are under particular pressure, with Rwanda set to put the capital Kigali and eight other districts under lockdown from Saturday.

The East African nation had previously avoided the worst of the pandemic by enforcing some of the strictest containment measures on the continent.

But hospitals have been overwhelmed in recent weeks, with a critical shortage of beds and medicines.

Overall, coronavirus-linked deaths in Africa surged by 43 percent in the space of week, driven by a lack of intensive-care beds and oxygen, the WHO said Thursday.

– Covid-origin probe –

In Asia, Indonesia Thursday posted a record 56,757 daily infections as the world’s fourth-most populous nation overtook India as the region’s Covid-19 epicentre.

The China-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank said it was loaning the Southeast Asian nation $500 million to boost its response.

Vaccine doses are flowing into the hard-hit country by the millions, including from Japan and the United States, while Jakarta on Thursday approved the Pfizer/BioNTech jab for emergency use.

Also facing chronic shortages of medical supplies is Myanmar, where residents across the coup-hit country’s biggest city of Yangon defied a military curfew in a desperate search for oxygen to keep their loved ones with Covid breathing.

Residents told AFP they had slipped out in the dead of night to secure spots in lines to refill oxygen cylinders — dismissing claims from the country’s military rulers that there is more than enough to go around.

As the virus shows no sign of easing, the WHO is working towards the second phase of an investigation into where Covid-19 originated, and urged China on Thursday to better cooperate.

Source:  AFP

Muna family: How the ruling CPDM crime syndicate is destroying the rich legacy

15, July 2021

Muna family: How the ruling CPDM crime syndicate is destroying the rich legacy 0

An Ordinary General Assembly, Board Meeting and Shareholder’s meeting of Daniel Muna Memorial Clinic (DMMC) Bonanjo, Douala billed for today Tuesday, July 13, 2021, failed to take place.

According to dependable sources, the meeting was suspended after  Ama Tutu Muna and George Muna seized the Court of First Instance Bonanjo to challenge the convening of the meeting citing irregularities.

While the subject of the July 13 meeting read, “Invitation to Board of Directors Meeting”, the body of the document suggests that it was indeed convening three kinds of meetings – a Board of Directors meeting, a Shareholders meeting, and an ordinary general assembly meeting.

Legal experts say it remains unimaginable that three distinct meetings are convened at the same venue and time with the same audience and a confusing agenda, given that not all board members are shareholders.

The Ohada Uniform Act provides that for a General Assembly to be legally convened, the notice of the meeting should be sent to the shareholders 15 days before the date meeting. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Daniel Muna Memorial Clinic, Dr. Eninwi Mawan Muna signed the invitation to the July 13 meeting on June 29, 2021 – only 14 days before the meeting.

The invitation to the Board of Directors meeting rather carried an agenda for a general assembly. Legal experts say the situation is irregular.

Participants convened included: Succession Solomon Tandeng Muna (shareholding members), Succession Daniel Muna (shareholding member), succession Bernard Acho Muna (shareholding member), Succession Humphrey Mamncho Muna (shareholding member) Succession Walinjom F.T. Muna (shareholding member), Mr. George Fombi Muna (shareholding member), Barrister Akere Tabeng Muna (shareholding member), Dr. Eninwi Mawan Muna (member), Mr. Fred Tabeng Muna (member), Mr. Koul A Well (External Auditor), Dr. Dopgima Fofung (General Manager – DMMC), and Dr. Dicmu Lawrence (Assistant General Manager  – DMMC).

Given that Daniel Muna Memorial Clinic, S.A is a family business, the exclusion of Minister Ama Tutu Muna and the successor of late Edwin Muna is seen as an irregularity.

Chembifon Diboue Muna, son of late Edwin Muna says Daniel Muna Memorial Clinic S.A. is owned by eight families.

“So, for many years, it was working okay. But when Daniel Muna passed, it was okay because the Muna brothers were managing. For the past five years. We have had five members who are deceased. But they have their administrators, their children who are around. And we have three active members who are alive – George Muna, Ama Muna, and Akere Muna,” said Chembifon Diboue Muna. But what is happening is that each time we call for a board meeting, as you can see today, we had a board meeting and Akere Muna did not show up. So Akere Muna doesn’t come to no board meeting and is manipulating things from the back…There are many things he is doing from the back.”

Diboue Muna says that they feel cheated in the sharing of dividends from DMMC.

“Five estates feel they are cheated. They do not have their dividends. We have asked for records, we have asked for financial records…Are we making a profit or loss? I represent my father, he is a shareholder. Am I entitled to a dividend or not? We have asked for those documents. George Muna asked for records and the management said they don’t have records on instructions from Akere Muna,” he said.

‘Muna children are not fighting’

George Muna, son of late Rt. Hon. S.T. Muna says contrary to public opinion, the Muna children are not fighting and have no family problem.

“…We are only saying that we want to know how the clinic is run and to have access to certain documents,” said George Muna.

“We came for a Board Meeting but we asked that it be canceled until we have those documents.  If we are going to a Board of Directors meeting, we should have documents prepared for the meeting…Last board meeting, we asked for those documents but we were not given,” George Muna added.

On July 6, 2021, Barrister Achu Julius, counsel for Ama Tutu Muna and George Muna “who are shareholders of the Daniel Muna Memorial Clinic S.A.” wrote to the Board Chair of the company requesting documents prior to the July 13 meeting. The request that had a 24-hour deadline went unheeded.

Ama Muna, George Muna seize the court

Aside from challenging the convening of the meeting, Ama Muna and George Muna prayed the court to declare subsequent resolutions of the said meeting null and void.

The matter came up at 10am this Tuesday at the Bonanjo Magistrate’s Court. Given that it was an urgent application, the matter was adjourned to midday. At midday, the lawyer for the Clinic told the court that the said meeting convened by Dr. Eninwi Mawan Muna had been suspended because the matter was in court.

The convener of the meeting who sits as Board Chairman had decided to wait for the verdict from the court causing the meeting not to hold.

After listening to the lawyer to Daniel Muna Memorial Clinic who failed to present any written justification, the court decided on its own volition to visit the venue of the meeting to verify the facts that the meeting did not hold.

The matter was adjourned to 2.30pm, time enough for the court to visit the venue of the meeting under contention.  At the Head Office of Daniel Muna Memorial Clinic, the court got confirmation from the Board Chairman, Dr. Eninwi Mawan Muna that the meeting did not hold.

When the matter resumed in court at 2:30pm, the court decided that the application for suspension of the meeting was no longer necessary because the company itself had suspended the meeting. The court however ordered that the Board Chairman of Daniel Muna Memorial Clinic should serve all the parties with all the company documents before the convening of the next meeting.

Culled from Cameroon Info.Net

WTO convenes trade ministers to net fisheries deal

15, July 2021

WTO convenes trade ministers to net fisheries deal 0

The World Trade Organization kicked off a ministerial meeting Thursday aimed at breathing life into drawn-out negotiations towards banning subsidies that favour overfishing, but numerous sticking points remain.

Before the meeting, WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala voiced cautious optimism that trade ministers from the organisation’s 164 member states could finally move towards clinching a “historic” agreement after 20 years of negotiations.

“While no one expects a miracle, the meeting represents a golden opportunity to bring the negotiations within striking distance of a deal,” she said in an editorial published Wednesday in Project Syndicate.

“A failure to do so would jeopardise the ocean’s biodiversity and the sustainability of the fish stocks on which so many depend for food and income.”

The talks aim to ban subsidies that contribute to illegal and unregulated fishing, as well as to overfishing, threatening the sustainability of fish stocks and the industry.

While fishing should in theory be held in check by the environment, with low fish stocks pushing up costs, subsidies can keep unprofitable fleets at sea.

It is widely agreed that action is needed to protect a crucial resource that millions of people depend on for their livelihoods.

In 2017, the Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that one third of global fish stocks were overfished.

Global fisheries subsidies are meanwhile estimated at between $14 billion and $54 billion a year, according to the WTO.

But two decades of negotiations have stumbled over a range of issues, including a UN demand that developing countries and the poorest nations receive special treatment.

After missing the last UN deadline to reach an agreement by December 2020, talks have intensified in recent months however.

– ‘Historic’ –

Okonjo-Iweala, who took the reins of the global trade body in March, has made clinching the long-awaited fisheries deal by the end of this year a priority.

Thursday’s meeting, which is taking place virtually due to Covid restrictions, is focusing on a draft text presented in May by Colombian ambassador Santiago Wills, who chairs the WTO fisheries subsidies negotiations.

Okonjo-Iweala voiced optimism that “marathon discussions” on the text, which according to Wills proposes “compromise language” in a range of areas, would succeed.

“We are on the cusp of forging an agreement at the WTO that is historic in more ways than one,” she said, stressing that a deal would also show that “members can come together and act on issues of the global commons.”

Reaching any kind of an agreement at the WTO can be hard, because all decisions require a consensus among all member states.

But observers said there had been a clear boost in momentum towards finding a deal.

“We have never had more political attention on the issue, (nor) the degree of political attention from a director general, and the degree of commitment from WTO members to really advanced this text,” Alice Tipping of the International Institute for Sustainable Development told reporters in Geneva.

– Special treatment? –

But a number of sticking points remain and NGOs warn against rushing to the finish line at any cost.

“It’s critical that WTO members do not sacrifice environmental outcomes for the sake of speed when negotiating a fisheries subsidies agreement,” Isabel Jarrett of The Pew Charitable Trusts told AFP.

One of the main stumbling blocks has been a UN demand that developing countries and the poorest nations receive so-called special and differential treatment, or SDT.

While special treatment for the poorest countries is widely accepted, demands from some self-identified developing countries to be exempt from subsidy constraints has proved difficult to swallow.

Many of the major fishing nations are considered developing countries by WTO, including China, which has one of the world’s biggest fishing fleets.

An EU official told reporters this week that a declaration from China that it was prepared to assume “full commitments without claiming SDT” would be “very helpful” to the talks.

There is also disagreement over how broad the fisheries deal should be.

There appears to be consensus around excluding fish-farming and continental fishing from subsidy constraints.

But some developing countries are calling for fuel subsidies, including through tax deduction schemes like those widely used in the EU, to be included in the deal — something the bloc flatly rejects.

Source: AFP

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Gendarmes beheaded in Amba attack

15, July 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Gendarmes beheaded in Amba attack 0

Two gendarmes in Cameroon were killed and then beheaded overnight in an attack by secessionists, an official says.

The bodies were found on Wednesday morning in Babadjou, a town which borders Cameroon’s North-West region – one of two areas where fighters are seeking to break away.

Gisèle Tsangue, the mayor of Babadjou, said it was an attack by separatists on a checkpoint and a third officer was missing.

The UN estimates that at least 3,500 people have been killed in the English-speaking regions of North-West and South-West Cameroon since the secessionist conflict began in late 2016.

Anglophone activists say the country’s French-speaking majority is marginalising the English-speaking minority.

 Source: BBC news

CPDM Crime Syndicate: FECAFOOT seeks restructuring amid conflict

15, July 2021

CPDM Crime Syndicate: FECAFOOT seeks restructuring amid conflict 0

Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT) needs to be restructured as part of the efforts to rebuild it and restore public confidence, the federation’s president Seidou Mbombo Njoya said on Tuesday.

“It’s important we adopt worthy statutes that will permit good functioning and organisation of FECAFOOT. We need an objective and neutral electoral code, a transparent disciplinary code, and a transparent financial mechanism,” Njoya said in the capital Yaounde at the start of an extraordinary general assembly of the federation.

“At the end of this general assembly, resolutions need to reflect a modern and dynamic FECAFOOT that will guarantee the development of our football far away from incessant conflict. We should write a new page of our federation,” he added.

FECAFOOT has been plagued by managerial, corrupt, and financial crises for several years and this needs to stop, sports officials said.

Njoya said the restructuring of the football governing body was fundamental as the Central African country prepares to host the Africa Cup of Nations next year.

Source: Xinhaunet

Biya in Geneva: They promised and were as good as their word

14, July 2021

Biya in Geneva: They promised and were as good as their word 0

The Cameroon Diaspora had clearly indicated that it would be wherever Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, would be hiding in Europe.

The Diaspora is used to interrupting the president’s long and expensive vacations in Europe and it was not going to fail this time around as the ailing and fragile Biya seeks medical asylum in the Swiss city of Geneva.

Members of the Cameroon Diaspora were on hand at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva to express their frustration with a president who has been incapable of posting any convincing political and economic results over the last four decades.

Mr. Biya, who was held up at his Unity Palace residence for two years because of the Coronavirus, decided this week to venture out to Europe to seek proper health care, is now dealing with a sticky and humiliating situation as protesters show up at his hotel to remind him of his failure and sorrows.

Mr. Biya left the country last week, leaving behind a nasty civil war that has already claimed more than 10,000 lives and a poorly managed economy that is clearly on the brink of a massive collapse.

For four decades, the Cameroonian dictator has not been able to build a state-of-the-art health facility that can take care of his failing health.

The country’s Diaspora has more protest planned for the week and the objective is to ensure that the unwanted guest gets kicked out of the hotel so that he can return to his country in total disgrace.

More Cameroonians in the Diaspora will be heading to Geneva to shore up efforts by their compatriots to kick out the incompetent and reckless president from a hotel that is costing taxpayers tons of money.

The Cameroon Concord News Group will be providing full coverage of the drama as it plays out in Geneva.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Cuba: One dead, more than 100 arrested after anti-government protests

14, July 2021

Cuba: One dead, more than 100 arrested after anti-government protests 0

One person died and more than 100 others, including independent journalists and dissidents, have been arrested after unprecedented anti-government protests in Cuba, with some remaining in custody on Tuesday, observers and activists said.

A 36-year-old man named by the state news agency as Diubis Laurencio Tejeda died during an anti-government protest on the outskirts of Havana on Monday, the interior ministry said.

The ministry said it “mourns” his death while the news agency said he had taken part in “disturbances.”

Relatives and friends of those detained during and after Sunday’s historic demonstrations engaged in a desperate search on Tuesday for news on their whereabouts.

“They took him from the house handcuffed and beaten, without a shirt, without a mask,” said a 50-year-old woman who did not wish to give her name, enquiring about her 21-year-old son at a police station in the capital.

“They took many from the neighbourhood, young and old,” she said, before leaving empty-handed.

Cuba’s San Isidro free speech protest movement published late on Monday a list on Twitter of 144 people held or reported as disappeared after thousands of Cubans took to the streets in dozens of cities and towns in a spontaneous outburst of public anger.

Droves of demonstrators chanted “Down with the dictatorship” in protests dispersed by police in some 40 different locations Sunday.

About 100 protesters again gathered in Havana Monday evening, shouting “Down with communism.”

The rallies were unlike any seen since the Cuban revolution. They came as the country endures its worst economic crisis in 30 years, with chronic shortages of electricity, food and medicine and a recent worsening of the coronavirus pandemic.

But Cuba’s foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez denied on Tuesday there had been a “social outbreak” on Sunday, insisting that the people still support “the revolution and their government.”

‘Economic suffocation’

Havana blamed the show of discontent on the United States pursuing a “policy of economic suffocation to provoke social unrest in the country.”

Cuba has been under US sanctions since 1962.

But Washington pointed the finger at “decades of repression” in the one-party communist state.

Cuba’s Catholic church called for “understanding” in a statement published on the Bishops Conference website, adding that “the people have the right to express their needs, desires and hopes.” The bishops also criticised the government’s “immobility that contributes to giving continuity to the problems, without solving them.”

Many Cubans were looking for loved ones.

“They took my daughter yesterday (Monday) and I have no news of her,” said a woman at a Havana police station.

A young man said his brother, 25, was taken from a neighbor’s house. “They gave him a tremendous blow, unjustly, and took him away,” he said.

A police official told worried family members that those arrested were taken to different detention centers, without providing details of who went where.

Julie Chung, acting assistant secretary in the US State Department’s Bureau for Western Hemisphere affairs, called in a tweet Monday for the “immediate release” of the detainees.

“Violence and detentions of Cuban protesters & disappearances of independent activists… remind us that Cubans pay dearly for freedom and dignity,” she said.

Those held included dissident Guillermo Farinas, former political prisoner Jose Daniel Ferrer and artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara.

‘Counterrevolutionary elements’

Granma, the official newspaper of Cuba’s governing Communist Party, said Tuesday that President Miguel Diaz-Canel had met with his retired predecessor Raul Castro and the rest of the communist party politburo on Sunday to discuss the protests.

They “analysed the provocations orchestrated by counterrevolutionary elements, organized and financed from the United States for destabilisation purposes,” Granma said.

Mobile internet was down in Cuba for much of Sunday and on Monday the authorities cut access to major social media platforms, according to London-based group NetBlocks.

The United States on Tuesday urged Cuba to end the internet restrictions and demonstrate “respect for the voice of the people by opening all means of communication, both online and offline.”

‘Treated like rubbish’

Among those arrested was theatre director Yunior Garcia, a leader of the 27N movement which was born after a much smaller protest by members of the art community on November 27 last year to demand free speech.

Garcia said on Facebook that he and a group of friends were beaten “and forcefully dragged and thrown into a truck.”

“We were treated like rubbish,” he said, adding they were taken to a detention center in Havana where they saw “dozens of young people” arrive.

He was released on Monday afternoon.

Also arrested on Monday was Camila Acosta, a Cuban correspondent for the Spanish newspaper ABC, its foreign editor said.

Spain’s foreign ministry on Tuesday urged the Cuban authorities to respect the right to protest and demanded that Cuba “immediately” release Acosta.

The last major protests, and the first since the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959, were in 1994.

Those were also against economic hardship but were limited to the capital and quickly put down by police.

(AFP)

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