Some U.S. politicians voice support for Cuba protesters as State Department calls for "calm"

Thousands of people took to the streets on Sunday in the biggest protests against Cuba's communist government in decades. The demonstrations came amid one of the worst economic crises the country has faced, and as it struggles to fight rising COVID-19 cases. 

Cuba continues to suffer from the impact of a decades-old U.S. trade embargo, and more targeted sanctions imposed by the Trump administration, which the Biden administration has left in place. Senior State Department official Julie Chung tweeted support for Sunday's protesters, but her initial message suggesting the anger in Cuba was only "about rising COVID cases/deaths," drew a quick rebuke from Florida's Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a prominent voice in the large, politically powerful Cuban-American community in the U.S. Rubio blasted Chung's first tweet as "ridiculous," saying the protests in Cuba "are not simply because of COVID," and added a jab at President Joe Biden: "It's now 10:15pm, and still nothing from @JoeBiden."