Leydis Aguilera, the first congresswoman of Cuban origin in the Uruguayan Parliament, responded with nuance yet firmly to the question of whether she supports a military intervention in Cuba. In an interview with CiberCuba she stated that she does not agree with any form of intervention, but she sharply criticized the passivity of the international community over nearly seven decades of regime.
"No one would like their country to be intervened. No one would like any country to intervene, whether militarily, politically, socially, or even economically in this matter of self-determination," stated the legislator from the National Party in an interview with Tania Costa for the program Transición Cuba.
However, Aguilera did not stop there with his response. He immediately questioned what international organizations, countries, and public opinion have been doing while the Cuban people have been "crumbling" for 67 years under dictatorship. Furthermore, he added that "there are things that are necessary for progress to occur."
Cited more than 1,200 political prisoners, millions of Cubans in exile, and the protests of July 11, 2021 as evidence of the collective failure of the international community.
"Those Cubans in the streets (on July 11), wearing flip-flops, shorts, and t-shirts, what did they come out to ask for? They didn't come out to demand an end to the blockade, they didn't shout, as we had been indoctrinated, 'Long live Fidel,' they came out to ask for freedom," he stated.
Aguilera reported specific cases of recent repression: in March, the Revolutionary National Police shot a 15-year-old and imprisoned him.
He also mentioned Jonathan Muir Burgos, who is 16 years old, detained in Morón after the protests in March and held in Canaleta prison — an adult facility — practically cut off from his family.
The congresswoman recounted that an acquaintance from within the island sent her an online form requesting the annexation of Cuba to the United States, and that man told her: "Leydis, I don’t care anymore. I can’t take it any longer. I want these people to leave. No more misery, no more deaths, no more separations."
Aguilera responded clearly: "No annexation, freedom. Cubans want freedom."
Regarding the role of the diaspora, she rejected the accusation that they "fight from comfort" and warned that the dictatorship also takes reprisals against those who speak out from abroad and against their families on the island.
In response to the question of whether Uruguay should expel Cuban diplomats —as Ecuador and Costa Rica did— she clarified that she cannot speak on behalf of the Frente Amplio government, as she belongs to the opposition.
He emphasized that its leader, former president Luis Lacalle Pou, quoted the song Patria y Vida directly in front of Díaz-Canel at the CELAC summit in 2021, publicly condemning the governments of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
Aguilera urged the Uruguayan government to abandon what he termed its "moral hemiplegia."
"There are dictatorships that condemn and punish, and there are others that do not, and (the one in Uruguay) is a government that claims to defend human rights," he pointed out, questioning why the Frente Amplio "tries to defend the indefensible in the case of Cuba."
It also denounced the Cuban medical mission in Uruguay, pointing out that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights classified it as having indications of human trafficking and forced labor, in violation of international labor agreements.
Aguilera, who took her seat in Parliament on March 10, 2026, becoming the first legislator of Cuban origin in Uruguay's parliamentary history, concluded her speech with a phrase that encapsulates her stance: "The world has turned its back on Cuba. And that is true."
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