The Cuban activist Amelia Calzadilla was at the center of one of the most emotional moments of the protest urgently called in front of the Embassy of Cuba 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 crackdown unleashed 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 demonstration took place at Paseo de La Habana 194, the location of the regime's diplomatic representation in Spain, and was called for 5:00 PM following the serious events that occurred on March 13 in Morón, where hundreds of residents took to the streets during an extended blackout shouting "Freedom!" and banging pots and pans.
The protesters stormed and set fire to the municipal headquarters of the Communist Party, destroying furniture, files, and police bicycles. At least five people were arrested and a young man—possibly 16 years old—was injured under circumstances that remain unclear. A video shows the moment the young man was shot in front of the police station.
During the protest in Madrid, personnel from the Cuban embassy openly recorded the attendees. Calzadilla turned that intimidating gesture into a direct challenge: "We are going to 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 are going to beg for, because freedom is demanded standing up, not in 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 indissoluble bond between exiles 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 declared to the crowd gathered at the Paseo de La Habana.
Regarding the regime's repressive response to the popular protests, Calzadilla was direct: "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 gained recognition in 2022 by publicly denouncing the lack of gas in her neighborhood in Cerro, affecting 58 families. She emigrated to Spain in 2025 after facing pressure from State Security, and since then, she has become one of the most active voices in Cuban activism in the diaspora. More about her journey can be found in the profile that CiberCuba published about her in 2022.
The protests in Morón are part of a wave of mobilizations shaking Cuba throughout March 2026, driven by blackouts lasting up to 20 hours daily, extreme food shortages, and an economic collapse worsened by the oil embargo 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 called in Madrid at Paseo de la Castellana 46, under the slogan "S.O.S. Cuba is Dying".
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