Gloria Estefan urges support for Cuban protesters

Estefan, 63, who left Cuba for the United States with her family when she was two years old, said she hoped the Cuban police and military would throw their support behind the protests.

"I call on the United Nations to condemn the Cuban government and their tactics against their own people, that they're using violence, that people are disappearing, that they've killed people," the "Turn the Beat Around" singer told Reuters in an interview.

Thousands took to the streets in towns around Cuba last Sunday to protest power outages, a COVID-19 surge, widespread shortages of basic goods and the one-party system.

The protests, the biggest in decades in Cuba petered out this week as security forces were deployed and government supporters mobilized.

U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on Cuba on Friday to release protesters and journalists arrested at the demonstrations and denounced alleged excessive use of force against some of them.

Estefan, a three time Grammy winner, said she was proud of the young people in Cuba who risked their lives to protest.