Mainstream media have exaggerated the protests in Cuba while downplaying the contribution of US sanctions to Cuba's problems.

Cuba represses dissent. It punished dissident Oswaldo Payá by putting him into a menial job and harassing him; it punished some of his supporters with prison. Some years later, the government arranged to kill him. But Payá did not want to hand Cuba over to the empire of multinational business. I expect that that's what the US government aims for with its sanctions.