Thousands of protesters rallied across the island over the weekend against food shortages and high prices amid the coronavirus pandemic.

President Joe Biden on Monday expressed solidarity with protesters in Cuba, where thousands of people rallied against food shortages and high prices amid the coronavirus pandemic over the weekend.

“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 in a statement released by the White House.

“The Cuban people are bravely asserting fundamental and universal rights,” he continued. “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.”

The show of support from the American president comes after masses of protesters marched on the Malecon promenade in the capital city of Havana on Sunday, as well as elsewhere across the island.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted on Monday that the protests were “an act of great courage,” adding: “I support the Cuban people in their pursuit of liberty and condemn any violence or targeting of those exercising their rights.”

The protests and their scope are almost unprecedented in the history of the communist country, which faces a major economic crisis exacerbated by U.S. sanctions imposed by former President Donald Trump.

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