The Biden administration lent rhetorical support to thousands of Cuban protesters who assembled Sunday for a historic show of displeasure with the communist regime while rejecting President Miguel Diaz-Canel’s portrayal of the unrest as an American operation.

“It would be a grievous mistake for the Cuban regime to interpret what is happening in dozens of towns and cities across the island as the result or product of anything the United States has done,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Monday.