Did the White House Suggest Cuban Protests Were Only About Vaccines and U.S. Sanctions?

A tweet from Ben Shapiro came in response to a Biden official, before the White House issued its statement

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Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro claimed in a tweet Monday that the White House suggested that “this liberty movement [in Cuba] is solely about lack of vaccines and US sanctions.”

This tweet came after Biden administration official  Julie Chung, who is the  acting assistant secretary for the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairstweeted that the protesters are acting to “express concern about rising COVID cases/deaths & medicine shortages.”

Chung was the first Biden official to speak out on the protests in Cuba, and it wasn’t until Monday morning that President Biden released a statement, in which he said: 

“We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba’s authoritarian regime. The Cuban people are bravely asserting fundamental and universal rights. Those rights, including the right of peaceful protest and the right to freely determine their own future, must be respected. The United States calls on the Cuban regime to hear their people and serve their needs at this vital moment rather than enriching themselves.”

Chung later shared a tweet echoing Biden’s statement.

While Shapiro’s tweet prompted criticism given Biden’s statement did not claim the protests were “solely about the lack of vaccines and US sanctions,” his tweet preceded the release of Biden’s statement. It is now clear from Biden’s comments that his administration does not believe the protests in Cuba are “solely” about the government’s pandemic response, but such was not the case when Shapiro initially tweeted.

If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Patrick O'Rouke

    This is a problem entirely created by the instantaneous nature of twitter. It shouldn't even be a controversy. Nobody is allowed any time to pause and think something over any more before they're expected to start throwing out hot takes.

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  2. Avatar photo
    The Bell Tower

    I was surprised to hear the Fox Jim Acosta duke it up with the Biden Sarah Sanders over communism.

    Is it that tough to condemn communism?

    Also, these administrations have become as formulaic as Marvel movies.

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    1. Val Xavier

      My initial response to the first round was to ask why the Biden Administration seemed reluctant to call the protests what they really are, the always inevitable kickback against totalitarianism... I don't get why they felt like they needed to thread some sort of a needle there. It's a very bad look for the "leader of the free world..." If that's even true anymore...

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      1. Avatar photo
        The Bell Tower

        Yep. It isn’t as if the previous occupant of Lincoln’s chair was satisfactorily critical of tyrannical autocracies either but I’d expect fewer unforced errors from an administration not led by a circus clown.

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        1. Val Xavier

          And just to be clear - "If that's even true anymore..." was just as applicable to the predecessor as it is the current Administration. Personally, I prefer "Big Orange Elephant" but, "circus clown" will certainly do...

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  3. Avatar photo
    Jimcarp707

    So, since Shapiro was responding to Julie Chung’s initial statement, “fact check true”, in other words.

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    1. RedBeardRob

      The whole reason I subscribe to the Dispatch is because their writing is generally aimed at providing broader context and nuance to news stories, rather than churning out binary "Good!/Bad!""Yes!/No!" clickbait.

      I would assume most subscribers, or even regular visitors, feel the same way, which is why I'm always a little surprised to see comments insisting that Fact Checks have to issue a clear-cut "True" or "False" verdict every time.

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    2. Avatar photo
      Alec Dent

      The purpose of the fact check is to 1) explain the situation because it did get a bit confusing with tweets and statements coming out around the same time as each other and 2) show that Shapiro wasn't just making stuff up like people were claiming he was

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    3. Alex DeLarge

      "Weatherman said on Monday that it was raining outside, but on Wednesday the sun was out." Fact Check: "Lacks context" because failed to specify he was not talking about the future."

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  4. Kier McAlpine

    So, “fact check false,” in other words. But we can’t say he definitively that he is a liar because as of that moment there was no WH press release.

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