Left’s silence on Cuba is hypocrisy, says exiled activist

SUPPORTERS of the Left across the world have failed to stand up to Cuba, a prominent dissident has declared, rounding on “hypocritical” socialists as he escaped a crackdown on the island.

Yunior García, who co-founded the group Archipelago, fled Cuba after a protest march scheduled for Monday was quashed by the regime.

He attacked the Left for refusing to label the Communist regime in the country a dictatorship, like North Korea or Venezuela. Mr García, a playwright, led the failed pro-democracy protest.

As many of his fellow campaigners were detained, he fled to Spain.

He attacked Left-wingers in European democracies, saying they needed to “grow up” and forget nostalgia about the Cuban Revolution.

“As a Leftist, I can’t allow that government to be considered anything to do with Leftism. It’s theatre – a farce in the

‘The regime’s strategy was to keep me incommunicado at home. The only thing I have is my voice’

worst taste that no one outside Cuba can possibly applaud.”

He added that the Left “have to stop being hypocritical and take a good look at the situation, like it seems easier to do with North Korea or Venezuela”.

A pro-democracy protest group led by artists and academics has been growing in Cuba in recent years after access to mobile internet was expanded, allowing demonstrations to be organised on social media.

Leading up to the failed protest on Monday, Mr García said he had had his phone cut off and thugs posted outside his home. On the day of the march, he said, hundreds of soldiers in plain clothes gathered outside his building and large Cuban flags were draped from the roof to block his windows.

“The strategy of the regime was to keep me incommunicado at home and silence me. The only thing I have is my voice, so if they silence me, they have won,” the 39-year-old said in Madrid.

“I am not made of stone. I have fear and a family,” said Mr García, who said other family had been harassed and two decapitated doves left outside the Havana home he shared with his wife.

Mr García said he hopes to return to Cuba and would not be requesting asylum in Spain, which has granted him a tourist visa for 90 days.

The marches for change were banned by the government of Miguel Díazcanel, the president of Cuba.