(July 12) Cuban state media acknowledged the outbreak of anti-government demonstrations on Sunday and blamed the protests on its “neo-liberal” opponents. Images on social media showed crowds in Havana, the provincial town of San Antonio de los Banos and elsewhere. Large mobilizations against the regime are rare on the tightly-controlled island, which strictly curbs dissent. “Those who fan these demonstrations don’t want the welfare of the people, but rather the privatization of health and education, and neo-liberalism,” state-controlled Prensa Latina cited President Miguel Diaz-Canel as saying. Cuba has faced growing hunger after its economy was hit by a slump in tourist revenue since the pandemic struck. The government last year introduced emergency economic reforms in response to the downturn, including eliminating some subsidies, adjusting prices and wages, and ending the dual currency system. --- Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/qt/live, or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app. Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BloombergQuickTakeNews Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicktake Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quicktake Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quicktake