A group of Cuban exiles gathered again this Monday in front of the Podemos party headquarters in Madrid to denounce what they see as a stance of complicity with the Cuban regime, following Pablo Iglesias's recent visit to Havana and his meeting with Miguel Díaz-Canel.
The protest, which continues the momentum of another demonstration that took place days earlier in front of the same headquarters, included symbolic actions and public denunciations regarding the situation of political prisoners on the island. The protesters read aloud excerpts from judicial sentences imposed on Cuban citizens following the protests of July 11, 2021, bringing attention to sentences that, in some cases, exceed a decade of imprisonment.
Among the attendees were activists such as Leonardo Fernández Otaño, Elaine Roca Aguiar, Diana Mendiluz, Wendy Ramos, Aries Cañellas, and Lázaro Mireles. During the event, several participants covered their mouths with bandages as a symbol of the lack of freedom of expression in Cuba and lit candles in a show of solidarity with political prisoners and their families, as shown in images shared on social media.
"Silence is our main resource today," expressed one of the participants during the protest, in a video message where they denounced decades of repression on the island and the international indifference to the situation of Cubans. During the event, attendees also condemned that more than a thousand people remain imprisoned for peacefully expressing their views.
During the event, the stance of Podemos and figures like Pablo Iglesias was directly questioned, as the protesters accuse them of downplaying the political, economic, and social crisis in Cuba. Part of the protest can be seen in recordings shared on X by journalist Magdiel Jorge Castro, where it documents how the participants read statements from political prisoners and carried out symbolic actions.
The activist Lázaro Mireles intervened to demand that the defense of human rights be prioritized on the island. In statements captured on video, he asserted that Cubans must be the voice of those who cannot express themselves within the country and called for freedom for political prisoners. At another moment during the day, he also engaged in an exchange with an individual identified as a supporter of Podemos, who confronted him and even threatened him, as seen in a video of the incident shared on social media.
The protest, which was peaceful in nature, also included silent slogans and the reading of specific condemnations, as part of an action aimed at highlighting the repression in Cuba. In another published material, it can be seen how the attendees maintained a solemn act, with candles and messages of denunciation, according to another video shared on X.
The protesters insisted that they will continue to mobilize to denounce the situation in Cuba and demand the release of political prisoners, in a context marked by the economic crisis, power outages, shortages, and repression within the island.
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