Lara Trump likens struggles of Cuban people to Donald Trump being removed from Twitter

Daughter- in-law of former president compares America of today to Cuba 60 years ago, in bizarre take on unrest

Lara Trump has compared the massive protests in Cuba to the removal of her father-in-law, Donald Trump, from Twitter.

The wife of the former US president’s son, and a Fox News contributor, told viewers on Thursday that Cubans deserved to be freed from socialism – and that Mr Trump also deserves to be back on Twitter.

She told Fox News colleagues that Cuban Americans in Florida had told her “that what they see in America is frighteningly close to what they started to see happen, in Cuba, over 60 years ago”, in an apparent reference to Mr Trump’s ban from Twitter, and the island nation’s turn to Communism.

“When you take the sitting president of the United States off of social media, it is a real slippery slope,” said Ms Trump. “It's very easy to see how these folks ended up in this place in Cuba. We should take it as a warning. In America, freedom isn't free. We have to fight for it.”

The former president was barred from Twitter for falsely alleging that the 2020 US election was “rigged” against him, and for arguably inciting the deadly 6 January Capitol riot.

Cubans on Sunday took to the streets of the capital, Havana, for the largest protests in decades, amid outrage at an economic crisis that has been worsened by food and medicine shortages, the Covid outbreak, and sanctions imposed by Mr Trump on the country’s 62-year-old Communist government.

Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel, in a televised address on Wednesday, admitted that the country’s government had to “gain experience from the disturbances” and “carry out a critical analysis of our problems in order to act and overcome, and avoid their repetition.”

He also blamed social media and the influence of the US for the wave of protests. The White House has dismissed those accusations.

Republicans, including Florida senator Marco Rubio and governor Ron DeSantis, have in recent days called on US president Biden to retaliate, and for the international community to aid Cubans.

Ms Trump, during her contribution on Fox News, asked of Democrats who were “pushing these Socialist, Communist ideals on America, where are they?”

Ms Trump immediately came in for criticism for her take on Thursday, with a Twitter user, ralph blair, writing: “Lara Trump hates the dictators in Cuba but loved the idea of Donald J Trump as America's dictator”.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press.