Cuban government’s crackdown frustrates plans for an islandwide protest
Fearing a repeat of the images that spread around the world on July 11, when thousands of Cubans unexpectedly took to the streets to call for political change in the communist island, the Cuban government unleashed a wave of arrests and intimidation to frustrate a march called for Monday to protest against state violence and advocate for the release of political prisoners.
To keep Cubans indoors, the government mobilized the military, the police and special units known as Black Berets to patrol the streets. Trucks and police cars were parked along main avenues, along the famed Malecón seawall promenade in Havana and in their cities, ready to block streets. Central parks in the country’s biggest cities were filled with government supporters and state security agents. State workers and members of the Communist Party and other political organizations were sent to stage so-called acts of repudiations against known dissidents and activists.
The dissidents daring to go outside, including Manuel Cuesta Morúa, Ladies in White’s Berta Soler, Ángel Moya, and art historian Carolina Barrero, were arrested. The quiet streets were also the result of a weeks-long campaign of harassment that used state media to send the message to the population that the government would not tolerate the demonstrations. Preemptive detentions started well before Monday. Activists and social media influencers who showed support for the initiative were subjected to interrogation by state security, fired from their jobs and threatened with criminal charges.
The extensive security operation as well as the time and space devoted to criticizing Archipiélago, the group behind the march, in state media has suggested to the population that despite the triumphalist rhetoric and the accusations about U.S. involvement, the government of Miguel Díaz-Canel considers that the opposition movement poses a significant challenge to its legitimacy.
Early Monday morning, an all-female pro-government mob gathered around the house of Saily González, a Cuban entrepreneur who has led the march plans in Santa Clara, a city in central Cuba. “None of these people are from around here. They brought them here since 5:30 in the morning,” González told the Miami Herald. “What they are trying to do is prevent me from going outside. Still, I am firm in my determination to walk out at 3:00 in the afternoon, dressed in white, whatever happens.”
In images that remind the acts of repudiation that preceded the Mariel exodus in 1980, the mob started shouting “Pin, pon, fuera, abajo la gusanera!” That roughly translates to “Down with the worms.” González replied, “Not a worm; I am a butterfly.”
As the mob continued shouting insults, González went out to her yard to hang white sheets, another video shows. Archipiélago, the group made up of young intellectuals,
artists, and activists who called for the march, told supporters to be creative in finding ways to show their discontent.
One suggestion to show support for the protests: hanging white sheets from windows and balconies. The group acknowledged that government repression would likely prevent many from joining the protest, which was initially scheduled for 3 p.m. As the mob did not show signs of leaving at that time, González, seated on her front porch, dressed in a white gown and started clapping, another way Cubans have been expressing support for the dissident movement. She later said in a video that she would march, eventually.
Cuban journalist Yoani Sánchez said her apartment in Havana, which doubles as website 14ymedio’s newsroom, was surrounded during the day by state security agents, members of the Communist Party and members of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. Luz Escobar, a 14ymedio reporter, and Cubanet’s reporter Camila Acosta are under house arrest.
On Sunday, state security agents also surrounded the home of Yunior García, the actor and playwright who has served as the leading voice of Archipiélago. The Cuban government unwittingly created a powerful symbol of its fear of an increasing opposition movement led by young Cubans, after state security agents and government supporters prevented García from going outside his apartment on a solo walk Sunday carrying a white rose. Instead, García was forced to show the rose through the blinds in his window to journalists standing afar, creating an iconic image for the dissident movement.
A white rose is a powerful symbol in Cuban history, harking back to one of the most famous poems by Cuban writer and independence war hero José Martí, who wrote that he would grow a white rose for
both friends and enemies.
“They can knock down my door at any moment,” García said of the agents surrounding his home. At one point, García exchanged words with government supporters and agents standing outside his apartment, according to a video circulating Monday morning. An unidentified woman tells him, “You work for the enemies of our government.” When he denies it, she goes on to say, “I am defending my history, my children’s history.” García then replied, “But you’re doing it in front of my door.” She shrugs and continues, “That’s right, and I’ll repeat it; we will not allow this activity.”
The scenes in Havana and Santa Clara show a generational clash as younger Cubans, with little emotional attachment to the revolutionary ideology and history, are pushing for changes. The widespread protests on July 11 showed a significant fracture in an island that was once ruled by the iron fist of Fidel Castro. Many artists, intellectuals, famous musicians, and even former government supporters have joined the ranks of the opposition, criticized the violence unleashed on the protesters, or showed some public support for Archipiélago.
Once a symbol of the Cuban revolution, Cuban singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés published a message of support for García on Monday. “My support for Yunior García Aguilera and all the Cubans he represents and who fight inside and outside Cuba,” said a statement posted to Milanés’ official Facebook page. “My contempt for those mobs they use to ‘represent the best of the people.’ I am ashamed of the people of my race who agree to be used as the old hunters of runaway slaves,” he said in reference to how the government uses impoverished Afro-Cubans to stage the acts of repudiation. “They are using them. Wake up!”
Videos posted online by activists late
Sunday and Monday morning show a vast deployment of police and special units known as “black berets” throughout the country. Santa Clara’s central park was packed with state security agents and pro-government supporters dressed in red, some carrying sticks, according to an image shared in a private message chat and seen by the Herald. Another photo shared with the Herald shows several trucks parked along one of Holguín’s main streets.
The trucks, belonging to state companies, were positioned in case authorities wanted to block off a street, the person sharing the image said. The Herald granted anonymity to Cubans sharing images and information who requested that their names not be used out of fear of government retaliation.
The White House watched the events closely throughout the day. “Whereas they were caught by surprise on July 11, they have been clearly working in the run up to this one to intimidate Cubans to not go out and demand greater freedoms. And I think we’re seeing that today,” a senior administration official said.
The official said the Biden administration was monitoring the violence and was ready to sanction individuals involved and “express solidarity with those who have been detained.”
In Miami, dozens of Cuban exiles gathered in the Versailles restaurant in Little Havana in the afternoon, waving Cuban flags and shouting “Patria y Vida.” “We have to be here for our brothers in Cuba,” said Miguel Sánchez. “We have to echo the abuses they suffer every day of their lives.”
As the hours passed with no big demonstrations on Monday, Cubans on the island moved to private chats to debate the lessons of the day. Some said they were disappointed.
Others noted that a massive rally was not expected given the relentless crackdown and imposing police deployment.
Many believe that in the future, the government should not be given so much time ahead to prepare its response, since the event had been announced several weeks in advance.
But another group was more optimistic, pointing out that the initiative forced the government to mobilize its security apparatus in such a strident way “that the repression will open the eyes” of Cubans and the international community, said one of the chat members.
“It won’t be today nor tomorrow,” said another, “but nobody can’t stop this.”
Ahead of the planned march, García said that even if the government suppresses it, it already fulfilled its goal to be a wake-up call. “Whatever happens, the message has to be that the Cuban people need to start thinking as citizens,” García told the Herald Sunday.
“Civility is what will lead us to end this dictatorship.”