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Amelia Calzadilla, a Cuban activist based in Madrid, announced this Monday the founding of the Cuban Orthodox Liberal Party, and explained that her entry into politics was unplanned, but rather a result of years of threats, defamation, and harassment after exposing the reality of the country.
"In 2022, I was not an opponent, nor even an activist... I was a dissatisfied Cuban mother witnessing the suffering of my loved ones as a result of an incapable and corrupt system," Calzadilla wrote on her social media when making the announcement.
According to her own account, it was precisely the repressive response of the Castro regime that transformed her.
"I learned in a very harsh way that Castro's propaganda does not forgive honesty; it was their constant threats, discrediting, defamation, and harassment that pushed me to become an activist and dissident," she stated.
Calzadilla lived 32 years in Cuba before leaving for exile in November 2023 with her husband and three children, seeking emotional and psychological stability for her family in the face of accumulating judicial and social pressures.
Her public profile began to take shape in June 2022, when an eight-minute video on Facebook where she questioned the Cuban leadership went viral and sparked a campaign to discredit her by State Security.
From exile in Madrid, Calzadilla intensified his activism.
She is the coordinator of programs for Ciudadanía y Libertad, an organization dedicated to promoting and defending civil and political rights in Cuba and fostering active and informed citizenship participation.
This month, she visited the European Parliament alongside Carolina Barrero to demand the suspension of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and Cuba, as well as individual sanctions against military leaders and the Castro family.
On April 18, he participated in a meeting with María Corina Machado along with other Cuban activists, and on April 24, he proposed a "surgical operation" for Cuba similar to the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, clarifying that he was speaking in a personal capacity.
Now take a step further by founding a formal political party.
"The Cuban Orthodox Liberal Party is being born today, a party that, as its name indicates, is center-right liberal, committed to the defense of justice, dignity, and our development as a nation," he declared.
The party is defined as founded "on the most humanitarian principles of the Martian ideology and also with the free market policies that drive the necessary development for any country."
Calzadilla acknowledged that a new campaign against him was, paradoxically, the definitive trigger for taking this step.
"The clumsiness of the ignorant prevents them from seeing beyond their noses, and as in 2022, they once again launch a campaign to dress me in a suit I had never thought I would wear. And once again, I thank them," he wrote.
The activist, who is also a member of the Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba and has denounced harassment campaigns and setups by the regime, concluded her announcement with an open invitation: “I invite anyone who can relate to these principles to join; every voice will be heard, respected, and valued.”
Calzadilla has reiterated on multiple occasions his intention to return to Cuba the day he is free, to "invest everything I have and am."
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