The Cuban activist Amelia Calzadilla highlighted one of the most emotional moments of the protest that took place yesterday in front of the Cuban Embassy in Madrid, where dozens of Cuban exiles gathered under the slogan "If Cuba is in the streets, so are we" in direct response to the repression that erupted the night before in Morón, Ciego de Ávila. The call was shared by Árbol Invertido on social media, which documented the event in real time.
The gathering took place at Paseo de La Habana 194, the diplomatic representation of the regime in Spain, and was called for 5:00 PM following the serious events of March 13 in Morón, where hundreds of residents took to the streets during a prolonged blackout, shouting "Freedom!" and banging pots and pans.
The protesters stormed and set fire to the municipal headquarters of the Communist Party, burning furniture, files, and police bicycles. At least five people have been arrested and a young man—possibly 16 years old—was injured under still conflicting circumstances. A video shows the moment the young man was shot in front of the police station.
During the protest in Madrid, staff from the Cuban embassy openly recorded the attendees. Calzadilla turned that intimidating gesture into a direct challenge: "We will return to rebuild our nation, so keep recording, because these are the faces you will see on every street in Cuba".
In her speech, the activist firmly rejected any stance of submission to the regime: "Freedom is not something we will beg for, because freedom is demanded standing up, not out of anger. We are here asking for what is rightfully ours, what our people deserve, what they have been fighting for for years."
Calzadilla also emphasized the unbreakable link between exile and those who remain on the island: "Those who are inside are our families, our friends". "We have managed to escape the problem, but the problem does not escape from us," he stated before those gathered in Paseo de La Habana.
Regarding the regime's repressive response to popular protests, Calzadilla was straightforward: "While an unarmed, hungry, psychologically damaged people were asking for the most just thing, which is freedom, the regime responded with violence." The reported detentions following the protests in Morón confirm this repressive pattern.
Born in Havana around 1991, Calzadilla became known in 2022 after publicly denouncing the lack of gas in her neighborhood of Cerro, affecting 58 families. She emigrated to Spain in 2025 after experiencing pressure from State Security, and since then, she has become one of the most active voices in Cuban activism within the diaspora. You can learn more about her journey in the profile published by CiberCuba about her in 2022.
The protests in Morón are part of a wave of mobilizations shaking Cuba during March 2026, driven by power outages lasting up to 20 hours a day, extreme food shortages, and an economic collapse worsened by the oil blockade imposed by the Trump administration at the end of 2025. In response to these events, Miguel Díaz-Canel threatened the protesters: "There will be no impunity for vandalism".
On the upcoming Thursday, March 19, a new gathering of the Cuban exile community is scheduled in Madrid at Paseo de la Castellana 46, under the slogan "S.O.S. Cuba is Dying".
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