The United States Coast Guard in Miami said it is monitoring any activity aimed at increasing “unsafe and illegal” border crossings between Florida and Cuba in response to Rare street protest on the island.

Rear Admiral Eric C. Jones issued a warning on Monday night because Cuban groups in the United States said they planned to travel to Cuba on a ship full of supplies to show their support for Cuba. Cuban protesters. South Florida has the largest number of Cuban Americans in the United States.

“Please don’t go to sea,” Jones said in a statement. “The Coast Guard and our local, state, and federal partners are monitoring any activity “that may be unsafe in the Florida Strait, including unauthorized ships departing from Florida to Cuba.”

The Florida Strait borders the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean and lies between the United States and Cuba.

#ThisJustIn – Please read Major General Eric C. Jones, Commander, @USCG District 7 and Director of the Joint Task Force of the Department of Homeland Security-Statement from the Southeast on the recent events in Cuba. pic.twitter.com/hrs5eErWGC

— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) July 12, 2021

Thousands of Cubans on Sunday Sprinkle on the street In protests against the government in cities and towns across the country, many people chanted “Libertad”-freedom-and “We are not afraid.” Cuba’s largest demonstrations in decades occurred under conditions of food shortages and medicine shortages, and the COVID pandemic has dealt a severe blow to the country.

Cuba is sanctioned by the United States, which currently limits the amount of important U.S. dollar remittances that American families can send to their relatives in Cuba.

According to the analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the Pew Research Center, there are a large number of Cuban diasporas in the United States, estimated at 2.3 million in 2017.

According to the “Miami Herald”, in Miami, Cuban social media sources announced on Monday that they will take a 10-hour boat to Cuba to show their support for the protesters. Influential people said they would bring aid and guns, and urged people in Miami to provide their ships.

People rally in solidarity with Cuban protesters near Little Havana in Miami, Florida, July 12, 2021 [Maria Alejandra Cardona/Reuters]

According to reports, a group of people gathered at the Pelican Harbor Wharf near Miami’s North Bay Village on Monday night. People brought boxes of bottled water, flashlights and a box of Chef Boyardee pasta.

“Water, food, medicine, anything we can bring to Cuba. Whatever help we can provide is good,” organizer Dennis Zuiero told WSVN, a local Miami news station.

On a rainy Monday night, the group did not go far.

Earlier on Tuesday, organizer Santiago Rivera (Santiago Rivera) posted a message on his Instagram account that the Coast Guard had prevented his team from crossing the strait due to a “gun problem.”

He promised that they will try to leave again “with the permission of the authorities of this country” on Wednesday morning.

The Coast Guard statement implied that it would not obtain such permission. It noted that the voyage was “dangerous and merciless” and nearly 20 Cubans died while trying to cross in recent weeks. It said the Coast Guard is working with state, local and federal partners to monitor “illegal ships from Florida to Cuba.”

Rivera’s post thanked the people who supported the mission and stated that the Cubans are deciding their own destiny and eliminating fear. “This is not politics, this is brotherhood, this is humanity and common sense, I am proud to be a Cuban, and I gave my life,” his post read.

Over the weekend, thousands of Cuban-Americans also gathered in Little Havana to express their support for the Cubans who participated in the protests. Such unauthorized demonstrations are extremely rare, and Cuban police have dispatched on Monday to control them.

According to data from Internet watchdog NetBlocks, the Cuban government also restricted Internet access to major social media platforms on Monday. The organization stated that WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and some Telegram servers were disrupted.

NetBlocks stated that the disruption is similar to the restrictions during the November 2020 protests, and some Cubans were able to use virtual private networks or VPNs to bypass them.

The last time such a large-scale demonstration took place in Cuba was nearly 30 years ago, in August 1994, when thousands of people took to the streets of Havana to protest the government’s policies. The demonstration was suppressed by the government and more than 35,000 Cubans left the island, many of whom traveled to the United States on rafts or boats.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel blamed the United States for Sunday’s demonstrations and accused Cuban-Americans of using social media to incite them. He said that the US sanctions on the island, which he called a “blockade”, are the chief culprit of the Cuban people’s dissatisfaction.

The Mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez, a Cuban-American, said on Twitter that he has never “feeled the eagerness of the people of Miami that the government and themselves intervene on behalf of Cuba”. He added that “this is a moment of freedom” for Cuba.