Mayelín Carrasco Álvarez, the Cuban mother arrested in Río Cauto for protesting against hunger

The leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, José Daniel Ferrer, assures CiberCuba that he was still under arrest by the political police an hour ago. The woman is 47 years old and is from Guamo Viejo. This is not the first time she has reported the shortage of food in that town of 600 inhabitants


The leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, José Daniel Ferrer, has identified the Cuban mother who was violently arrested by the political police for protesting against hunger. Her name is Mayelín Carrasco Álvarez, she is 47 years old and has three children, and this is not the first time she has raised concerns about the food shortages in her hometown, Guamo Viejo, a rural area of Río Cauto (Granma), where approximately 600 people live, according to Ecured.

Ferrer has shared on his YouTube channel the video of Mayelín Carrasco's protest and one of his live streams, recorded before the power went out in Santiago de Cuba, in which he calls for support not only for Mayelín Carrasco Álvarez but also for all Cubans protesting against the regime of Miguel Díaz-Canel.

This is not Mayelín Carrasco Álvarez's first public protest. She had already been recorded in a previous video where she clearly denounced that there is indeed hunger in Guamo Viejo and that she is a mother of three children and does not receive assistance from the State. "Let Canel know," she said, visibly upset, in those images that have also been shared by the leader of UNPACU on his social media.

According to José Daniel Ferrer, around one in the afternoon this Wednesday in Cuba, Mayelín Carrasco Álvarez was still under arrest, as she herself reported in her public address, for "demanding her rights in a public square."

She was taken away by the political police, who removed her from the Ángel Fría square in Río Cauto, where she lamented that there is nothing left of what she considers to be "the revolution" of Fidel and Raúl Castro, and blamed the local authorities for forgetting about towns like Guamo Viejo, where "there is indeed hunger."

Mayelín Carrasco Álvarez was dragged away by two agents of the political police dressed in plain clothes, who took her away by force from Plaza Ángel Fría in Río Cauto, where this mother rallied a little over a dozen men and women, most of them on bicycles and some even wearing a sweater featuring communist propaganda. She shared with them the challenges she faces as the head of a family with three children to care for, trying to put a meal on the table every day.

Although none of the neighbors supported her, when they saw her being taken away by force, they began to shout "Let her go," "Abusers," but the political police agents ignored the public outcry and used force.

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Tania Costa

(Havana, 1973) lives in Spain. She has directed the Spanish newspaper El Faro de Melilla and FaroTV Melilla. She was head of the Murcia edition of 20 minutos and Communication Advisor to the Vice Presidency of the Government of Murcia (Spain).