Biden praises Cuban protesters after Cuba president accuses US of funding demonstrators

President Biden on Monday praised Cuban protesters for issuing a "clarion call for freedom and relief" in historic Sunday protests, calling on the Cuban government to allow for peaceful protests.

"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," Biden said. "The Cuban people are bravely asserting fundamental and universal rights," the president continued, adding that 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," Biden said.