US rejects Cuban accusation that it is behind protests

The United States is not behind the protests in Cuba and the accusation that Washington was plotting them was "absurd," State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told a news briefing on Monday.

Cuba's government confirmed that five protests had taken place across the island on Sunday. President Miguel Diaz-Canel repeated a frequent accusation leveled by Havana that the United States was seeking to overthrow the island's communist-run government.