Civil society organizations from Cuba and the Cuban community residing in Uruguay held a tense gathering in front of the Cuban embassy in Montevideo on Friday, where they came together to demand freedom for political prisoners and solidarity with the Cuban people.
The demonstration was countered by Uruguayan leftist groups, including the Anti-Imperialist Committee and the Pueblos Libres organization, which attempted to overshadow the demands of the Cubans with slogans supporting the government of Havana.
Leydis Aguilera, alternate deputy of the National Party of Uruguay and of Cuban origin, was one of the organizers of the event and spoke in front of the cameras to denounce the situation on the island.
“Today, what we, the Cubans gathered here, are asking for is freedom for Cuba, freedom for political prisoners, solidarity with the Cuban people,” declared Aguilera, as the chants of counter-protesters could be heard in the background.
Aguilera, the first legislator of Cuban origin in the history of the Uruguayan Parliament, took her seat on March 10, 2026, as a substitute for deputy Pablo Abdala.
Regarding the humanitarian crisis on the island, she was straightforward: "In Cuba, there are now people who have been without electricity for over 40 hours. There are mothers who don't know what to feed their children. There are closed hospitals, and people are dying due to lack of food and medication."
This chart matches the most recent data: in May 2026, Havana recorded power outages of between 20 and 22 hours daily, with a record electricity deficit of 2,174 MW on May 14, and on May 16, 51% of the country was without electricity simultaneously.
Aguilera also explained why many Cubans living in Uruguay did not join the protest: "There are people who do not come out of fear of losing their citizenship, out of fear of what reprisals might be taken against their relatives, against the families that are there, because they are threatened, because they might be denied entry to the country."
The congresswoman refers to this phenomenon as "anthropological damage": "The dictatorship operates in various ways. From the time we are little and they instill fear, distrust, and servility in us."
In response to the attempts by counter-protesters to delegitimize the demonstration, Aguilera was emphatic: "Leftist factors have tried to take ownership of the discourse to delegitimize a just demand. When there are 4 million Cubans around the world asking for the same thing, when there are 8 million trapped on the island asking for freedom, this is not a matter of political colors."
The deputy also publicly thanked the law enforcement agencies: "I want to thank the Uruguayan police who have been accompanying us, respecting us, and protecting us."
The confrontation between Cuban exiles and defenders of the regime did not go unnoticed. A video shared on social media captured the paradox with a phrase: "What was most striking was not the protest. It was seeing Cubans who escaped from Cuba facing Uruguayans who defend a reality they never lived. Unbelievable."
The political context exacerbates the situation: the organization Prisoners Defenders documented a record of 1,260 political prisoners in Cuba as of the end of April 2026, while the Cuban Observatory of Conflicts recorded 1,133 protests in that month alone.
Filed under: