Dozens of Cubans gathered this Sunday outside the Cuban consulate in Barcelona to express their rejection of the regime and support the protests taking place on the island, in a demonstration that occurred at the intersection of Paseo de Gracia and Diputación Street, right in the heart of the city.
The attendees carried Cuban flags and signs against the government of Havana while chanting slogans like “Long live a free Cuba!”. The demonstration took place in front of the Cuban diplomatic mission and was part of solidarity actions organized by members of the diaspora.
From the location, the Cuban journalist residing in Barcelona, Renay Chinea, captured images of the protest and described the atmosphere of the demonstration. In the video, he stated: "Here on the Paseo de Gracia in the heart of Barcelona, we find ourselves reporting on a demonstration of free anti-Castro Cubans who are demanding freedom for Cuba in a place like Barcelona, so close to our beloved Island, very near the location where patriots Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and Ignacio Agramonte lived. We have a group of Cubans demanding freedom for the suffering people of Cuba."
He also added: “We will continue reporting what happens here in this wonderful place at Paseo de Gracia and Diputación, across from the Cuban consulate in Barcelona. Long live a free Cuba, gentlemen, that is the cry, that is the spirit, let’s go now.”
During the gathering, Cuban opposition figure Osiris Puerto Terry also spoke, sharing his experiences during the protests on July 11, 2021, in Cuba, and showed scars on his abdomen. He stated before those present: "As the leading president of free Cubans in Barcelona, I was a victim, I was the opposition in Calzada del 10 de octubre, I organized the protests in Havana on July 11, 2021, and this is what those communists did to me."
In his statement, he added: “the order given to shoot me, to murder me, by two officers twelve meters away with nine-millimeter bullets, three shots, and they turned to finish me off: ‘where is this black guy? we want to make sure the black guy is dead.’”
Puerto Terry also stated: "What they did to me on July 11, 2021, thank God I am here in Spain raising my voice alongside you."
The activist also referred to reports about the death of a teenager during recent protests on the island and stated: “Yesterday, a sixteen-year-old boy, just sixteen years old, was killed by the police in Morón; we cannot let that go unnoticed.”
The testimony of the opposition member was also shared on social media by the Cuban researcher and activist Salomé García, who posted the video of his intervention during the gathering and noted that Osiris Puerto Terry was shot three times during the protests on July 11 in the Toyo area. In that same message, she added that there is no public confirmation regarding the status of the mentioned teenager in relation to recent reports in Morón.
The call for the gathering was previously circulated on social media, urging people to meet on Sunday, March 15, in front of the Cuban consulate at Paseo de Gracia number 34, between 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM, with flags and utensils to hold a pot-banging protest in support of the demonstrations within Cuba. This call was also amplified on social media by the independent cultural magazine Árbol Invertido in a post where the announcement of the demonstration was shared.
Images and videos shared on social media show dozens of attendees with Cuban flags gathered on Paseo de Gracia during the protest. In posts within the Facebook group “Cubans in Barcelona for the freedom of Cuba and Latin America”, managed by Cuban musician and activist Sayde Libre Chaling Chong García — president of the Ibero-American European Alliance Against Communism (AIECC) — recordings of the demonstration were also shared, showing participants chanting slogans and displaying posters against the regime.
The demonstration in Barcelona joins other recent mobilizations of the Cuban diaspora in Spain in support of those protesting on the island. On Saturday, around 40 people gathered in front of the Cuban embassy in the Spanish capital, as described in the protest held in Madrid in support of the Cuban people following the uprisings in Morón.
Also over the weekend, Cubans residing in the southeast of the country gathered in the center of Murcia to denounce the human rights situation on the island and call for an end to the dictatorship, as noted in the demonstration organized in that city “for our brothers who suffer day by day”.
The gatherings reflect a series of mobilizations by Cubans in various Spanish cities following the protests on the island, where Cubans have taken to the streets amid prolonged blackouts and food shortages.
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