Yonexi Gutiérrez, sister of mixed martial arts champion Javier Martín Gutiérrez -known as "Spiderman"-, posted a video on Instagram where she publicly exploded to denounce the abandonment her brother is experiencing in his solitary protest against the Cuban regime.
Javier has been protesting against the regime for days from the balcony of his home on 31st Avenue in Havana, in front of the El Lido terminal, without receiving any real support from within the Island.
"My outrage is so great that I knew at some point I was going to explode. Because it's too much," said Yonexi at the beginning of the video, which lasts nearly seven minutes.
Yonexi reported that, despite the supportive messages on social media, her brother is facing the protests in complete isolation within Cuba. "He has been alone for a week. He does have support from those outside, but inside Cuba, he has no one. Not even his own family: for some, he is a crazy person or a drug addict," she noted with evident frustration.
The young woman also directed a criticism at those who marched under pressure for Elián González and the so-called "five heroes," and who are now remaining silent.
"If you weren’t coming from work, you were fired. And the child who didn’t go to school would have a mark on their record," he recalled, questioning why those same people aren’t taking to the streets today for their own freedom.
The woman, who lives outside of Cuba, revealed a key personal detail: she herself was imprisoned on the Island for protesting publicly. "Javier cannot be afraid of going to jail. Do you know why? Because Javier knows what it's like, because this one here was imprisoned," she stated.
He also spoke of his own sacrifice: "I had to leave that country. I had to leave my family, my children... and come here so that I wouldn't end up like Javier is today."
He dedicated part of the video to denouncing the situation of Cuban children who are trying to become digital content creators to support their families financially. "The children are the ones stepping up for their parents. It's not you, dad. It's not you, mom. It's your child," he stated, describing minors who cannot even afford a candy and cannot dream of being professionals.
The video from Yonexi arrives a day after Javier posted his own message from the eighth day of protest, in which he pointed out that his area had experienced eight consecutive days of electricity—something he attributed directly to his public denunciation—and displayed State Security motorcycles parked in front of his house.
The Spiderman protest occurs in the context of the worst humanitarian crisis that Cuba has faced since the Special Period of the 1990s, with blackouts lasting over 20 hours daily following the cutoff of Venezuelan oil supplies, and with 96.91% of the population lacking adequate access to food, according to the Food Monitor Program.
"If Javier wants to continue, let him continue. He won't be alone. And if I have to make 100 videos like this to refresh his memory, I will do it," Yonexi promised as he ended the video.
Filed under: