During an interview on the program Notables, broadcast by teleSUR, Macias explained that this process can be divided into stages.
The first one, when peaks of COVID-19 infections were registered in the Cuban province of Matanzas. The analyst said that a “health crisis” was raised on social networks and from there the campaign was promoted, without mentioning that in the Caribbean island there is a free health system that serves the entire population and fights to combat the pandemic in the midst of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States.
In view of the records of the increase in positive cases and deaths due to COVID-19 in the Caribbean nation, there were many headlines, but he clarified that in comparison with the figures of other countries such as Belgium, which has a population similar to Cuba, he assured that the data is 20 times higher in deaths due to the pandemic.
“On July 9, hundreds of thousands of tweets are launched; on July 10, 500,000 tweets are launched” and, according to his analysis, what was raised was the claim for an alleged health crisis, using the tag SOS Cuba.
“It is a bit surprising that this is the trigger for what happened. In this second phase, which was automated, in many cases (newly created) accounts were used, mentioning artists from all over the world to participate” in the campaign, he said.
In view of this, he commented that most of the artists who joined the campaign only posted the aforementioned tag, without adding anything else to the message on their social networks.
Then, he indicated that the press talked about a “humanitarian corridor” — something that the Cuban government recalled that they were used in specific situations, such as war conflicts. “It is somewhat reminiscent of the coup attempt against Venezuela in the face of the alleged humanitarian aid from the USAID”, the United States Agency for International Development, linked to several events against progressive governments in the region.
“From July 5 to 8 there are some 5,000 or 6,000 tweets; on July 9 there are some 100,000 tweets; on July 10 there are 500,000 tweets; and on July 11 it explodes (the situation in the networks) because it is a world trend. Hence, in Miami and elsewhere, they are asking the people to take to the streets en masse”, he added.
Likewise, he stated that they are currently in the fourth phase, which is the media campaign, where words are used 24 hours a day to accuse the Cuban authorities of alleged repression. “The struggle for the narrative to justify a U.S. military invasion or other types of elements.”
“It is very surprising, above all, comparing with the demonstrations in Colombia where people were murdered, people disappeared, rapes, firearms were used (…) and all these kinds of things, to which they did not dedicate a single minute” on social networks.
