Cuban residents in Argentina denied that the protest in front of the Cuban diplomatic mission in Buenos Aires this week was violent, contrary to what official media and those associated with Castroism reported.
"It's not the first time that the regime has turned to Argentine civil society organizations to provoke activists who take to the streets to voice their truth," said Luis Alberto Mariño Fernández, one of the participants in the meeting last Monday, to CiberCuba.
"We have known for many months, and even more so now, that every time we launch a call on social media, the regime summons social movements from Argentina. We are preparing to avoid any atmosphere of confrontation and not to foster the climate that the dictatorship desires," Mariño Fernández added.
The members of Cubanos en Argentina por la Libertad organize these gatherings primarily to express their solidarity in a peaceful manner.
"Many times we go with our family, our children. On Monday, there were two minors with us; so it is important for us to express ourselves in a peaceful manner," he explained.
Mariño Fernández believes it is normal for the regime to pursue these strategies because they highlight the pain caused by the organization of Cubans in exile and the collective actions taken to raise awareness about what is happening on the island and the disaster of the past 62 years.
Following Mariño Fernández's statements to this outlet, the group Cubans in Argentina for Freedom published a statement on Facebook refuting the claims made by state media such as Cubadebate, Granma, and Radio Reloj.
"They brazenly lie when they claim that activists act violently and that we have launched or attempted attacks against the diplomatic premises. Even less so that we threw eggs, which is not only factually false but also something we have never planned or will accept," states the communiqué in response to the Spanish outlet Cubainformación, which is aligned with the regime in Havana.
The group of Cubans clearly expresses its stance against any manifestation of violence and criticizes not only the institutionalized lies spread in the island's state media but also the shameless assertion that they intended to throw eggs at the public building.
"We are very aware that Cuba is a hungry nation, facing significant poverty, where the shortage of food includes even basic items like eggs, and enjoying them can be a luxury. It would never occur to us to waste food, let alone based on violent actions against any diplomatic or governmental institution," they stated.
They also recalled how the Cuban regime used the tactic of throwing eggs in past decades against those who left the country and were deemed traitors; acts of repudiation that, despite the passage of time, are still criticized by international organizations, opposition figures, and members of independent civil society.
"It is important to clarify that we are united by the conviction to fight for a free and democratic country. Something as fundamental as respect for human rights is reason enough for us to come together. This is how we act, reaffirming the ideals that, one day not too far in the future, will materialize for the good of all," concluded the statement.
Among the state media that echoed the falsehood from Cubainformación, as of the writing of this note, only Radio Reloj had the article available on its website, while Granma and Cubadebate returned a 404 error, indicating that the resource is not available on the server.
The videos circulated on various Argentine digital platforms, sympathetic to the Castro regime, show a small group of people in front of the Cuban embassy holding banners and flags of the island, while referring to those who went to protest peacefully as "worms."
For its part, the Cuban diplomatic mission in Buenos Aires labeled the island's citizens in that country who organized to protest peacefully as "far-right" and falsely claimed that they intended to attack the diplomatic building.
The lies propagated by the Castro regime and its accomplices were criticized by other Cubans on social media, who referred to those who participated in an act of repression against freedom of expression in a democratic country as "pathetic."
"We are not like you, neither in our goals nor in our means. Eliminate the dictatorship!" said user Gabriel C. Salvia on Twitter.
Filed under: