A standoff broke out on Sunday between Cuba’s communist government and youth activists who are calling for a peaceful march for change on Monday.
State security has cordoned off K’s house since the early hours of Sunday. unier garcia, an artist who has emerged as one of the country’s leading activists and called for island-wide protests on Monday. Foreign credential media were placed several hundred feet away.
The 39-year-old artist and playwright García said he will march alone, dressed in white and holding a white rose, on Sunday at 3 p.m. to represent those who would not be able to on Monday, but were barred from doing so. Instead, he showed a white rose, a symbol of peace, by his window.
Outside García’s building, pro-government Cubans gathered since morning, with music and dance chanting in support of Fidel Castro, Tweeted Views by workers. He also hung a giant Cuban flag on the part of the building where Garcia lives, partially blocking his window. He put up a sign outside his house that read “Me casa esta bloqueda” (“My house is blocked”).
In Miami, home of the largest concentration of Cubans who fled the island, a car caravan and march Held on Sunday in support of those on the island. Solidarity rallies are planned around the world on Monday.
Garcia said in a Facebook Live post on Sunday that it was his “human and constitutional right to walk the street as a free citizen with a white rose,” he said, “but apparently not even that they are willing to allow.”
“We are living very ugly days in Cuba. Unfortunately, we are returning at the worst possible time,” said Garcia, watching from his window as credible journalists were being expelled outside his building. “Over the years we have seen how violence increases, how hate speech grows, how discrimination increases, and how ideological apartheid grows.”
He said Cuba is a “tyrant” and that he learned to civilly and peacefully remove hatred from the Cuban people and win a country that truly “belongs to all of us without leaving anyone behind.”
Some Cubans followed García’s call to clap “for us” and “for the Cuban people” at 3 a.m., and many of them Share experience on social media,
Garcia launches a Facebook group for political debate, later called Archipelago Historic Anti-Government Demonstration on 11 July. It has named the event Monday’s “Civic March for Change”.
State-run television has devoted programming to Garcia in recent weeks, accusing him of being funded by the US government, which imposed sanctions on Monday’s march, relentlessly accusing the US of trying to destabilize the country. is charged.
The State Department called on the government in one Statement Sunday urged Cuba to respect its rights and to “reject violence, and instead, take this historic opportunity to make the voices of its people heard.”
Late Saturday evening, officials Media credential revoked One of five journalists working for the Spanish news agency EFE. The European Union on Sunday asked Cuban officials for an “clarification”, while Spain’s foreign minister called on Cuba’s top diplomat in Madrid for an explanation. The Cuban authorities have so far returned two credentials.
The protests have put the Cuban government on high alert.
Cuban columnist for The Washington Post, Abraham Jimenez tweeted On Sunday, state security agents told him that he was under house arrest as he tried to take out his garbage.
Independent journalists across the island also reported being under house arrest on Monday.
NS Committee formed to protect journalists said It is following a position involving independent media and calls for respect for journalists who “oppose censorship and harassment.”
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