Video Marta's son Nadir took that day shows crowds of anti-government protestors marching peacefully down the street, the demonstrators themselves seemingly in shock over what was happening.

"This is authentic! It's spontaneous!" Nadir says excitedly in the video.

According to Perdomo, protestors in San Jose de las Lajas did not sack government-run stores selling items in hard currency or flip over police cars, unlike in other cities.

As more and more Cubans took to the streets, it became clear that the Cuban government was facing the largest internal challenge to its hold on power in decades.

In a speech on state-run TV, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel blamed the island's economic problems on US government sanctions, said the protests were the result of a subversion campaign directed from abroad, and called the loyal to take back the streets from protestors.

"We are convoking all the country's revolutionaries, all the communists, to go into the streets, to all the places where they might replicate these provocations," he said. "The order to combat has been given."

Video Marta's son Nadir took that day shows crowds of anti-government protestors marching peacefully down the street, the demonstrators themselves seemingly in shock over what was happening.

"This is authentic! It's spontaneous!" Nadir says excitedly in the video.

According to Perdomo, protestors in San Jose de las Lajas did not sack government-run stores selling items in hard currency or flip over police cars, unlike in other cities.

As more and more Cubans took to the streets, it became clear that the Cuban government was facing the largest internal challenge to its hold on power in decades.

In a speech on state-run TV, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel blamed the island's economic problems on US government sanctions, said the protests were the result of a subversion campaign directed from abroad, and called the loyal to take back the streets from protestors.

"We are convoking all the country's revolutionaries, all the communists, to go into the streets, to all the places where they might replicate these provocations," he said. "The order to combat has been given."