HAVANA (Reuters) -Thousands of Cubans demonstrated in front of the U.S. Embassy in Havana on Thursday to protest the war in Gaza, even as Israel and Hamas announced a ceasefire and hostage deal that could pave the way to ending the two-year-old conflict.
The event, led by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and organized by the communist-run government, filled a plaza along Havana’s waterfront Malecon boulevard and prompted the U.S. Embassy on the island to halt services on Thursday.
Cubans waved Palestinian flags and cheered for peace, denouncing Washington for providing weapons and diplomatic support to its ally Israel during the conflict. Many said they were skeptical of the deal brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump.
“We don’t believe this peace will last because the same thing will happen as in Ukraine: President Trump promised peace, promised an end to the war, and it didn’t happen,” said 20-year-old university student Leanet Rodriguez.
“So we’re here (promoting) a peace that respects Palestine, its borders, its sovereignty, and above all, its people, who have been suffering for so many years.”
If fully adopted, the Trump-brokered accord would bring the two sides closer than any prior effort to halt a regional war that drew in neighbours Iran, Lebanon and Yemen, deepened Israel’s international isolation and changed the Middle East.
Gaza authorities say more than 67,000 people have been killed and much of the enclave flattened since Israel began its military response to the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
Crisis-racked Cuba – suffering severe shortages of fuel, medicine, and food – transported thousands of Havana residents, members of the armed forces and government supporters to the protest early Thursday morning.
The U.S. embassy in Havana announced the closure of its visa services on Thursday due to the protests, delaying scheduled interviews, document review, and passport issuance.
(Reporting by Anett Rios and Alien Fernandez, writing by Nelson Acosta, editing by Dave Sherwood, William Maclean)
