'Mia Khalifa working with US to fuel protests in Havana': Cuba president Miguel Díaz-Canel

In a recent development overseas, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on July 12 openly inculpated adult movie star Mia Khalifa of working with the United States government in a bid to fuel protests against the Miguel-led communist political administration in Cuba. Later, Mia Khalifa took to Twitter to deny the accusation. 

The heated exchange surfaced as thousands took to Cuba's capital city streets, clashing with police and several thousand pro-government supporters. Locals in the national capital, Havana, took to the streets to protest against the long-standing Communist government over its inefficiency and demand free vaccines as well as raised voices over shortage of food and rising inflation amid COVID. Protestors were seen chanting "Freedom" and "Down with Communism" slogans before authorities quelled down what could have turned into a riot solely organised on the internet. The country is currently witnessing the worst economic crisis in decades. 

Cubans couldn't readily access the internet until recently in 2019. However, 2.5 years later, social media fueling the country's largest anti-government protests in nearly 30 years and all popular media platforms are ripe with discontent against the government and its establishments.

While the Cuban President took to national television to accuse Mia Khalifa of instigating the protestors, the adult star took to Twitter to deny any such allegations.

Via her official Twitter handle, she stated, "Oy, singao… I’m not being paid by any government to spread awareness of your inhumanity towards your people. I do it for free and on my own time. #notsponsored"

What led to the latest protests in Cuba?

Widespread protests were organised against the government's political and economic policies outside the nation's capital building in Havana on July 11 and July 12. As anti-government protestors clashed with police officers, factions of pro-government supporters recorded videos and posted them online. Aided by social media, the movement quickly spread elsewhere in the country.

The Cuban government has resorted to old ways of blaming the US amid its internal uproar, calling it an "orchestrated social media campaign" and instigators "mercenaries" as they continued to 'provoke the Cuban people on the ground'. Cuban President Diaz-Canel, for his part, encouraged pro-government supporters, primarily 'revolutionaries and communists to hit the streets in an effort to highlight US provocations.'

Mia Khalifa speaks on worldly matters

This is not the first time that the celebrated star came forward in voicing her opinion over controversies and protests that surface across the globe. The Lebanese star has a wide reach on social media and often uses her platform to let her thoughts be known. The adult entertainer took to Twitter to condemn the violence that took place in Palestine and she had even gone a step further to point a finger at the US who, according to her, they funded the hate crimes that are being levelled against the Palestinians.

The model also received a lot of support for having spoken out on the issue and for taking a stance when many people chose to keep silent in the face of civil turmoil. Khalifa with a tag that asked for Palestine to be set free pinned the blame on the US by saying that she could not help but see the crime against humanity that the United States was funding annually by paying 3.8 billion dollars a year to maintain their privileged position.