Amelia Calzadilla, president of the Classic Cuban Liberal Party (PLCC) discussed for the first time in depth the controversy surrounding her departure from Citizenship and Liberty and the subsequent foundation of her political organization, in an interview with Tania Costa for CiberCuba.
The trigger was a public comment by Carolina Barrero, president of Ciudadanía y Libertad, who stated last May that she and her team learned about Calzadilla's plans "through social media." Calzadilla did not avoid the topic, although he also did not want to turn it into a source of confrontation.
"Look, I'm not going to lie to you, because I don’t like to tell untruths, I didn't like the response. And it doesn't make sense to say otherwise," Calzadilla stated. However, he added that, out of respect for the time he worked alongside Barrero and for the new organization he has founded, he prefers not to persist on the matter.
"From now on, I would only like to demonstrate that there is no need for relevance, that it is not centered on me, that it does not revolve around me, but rather around the idea of being able to structure ourselves and find solutions that are horizontal," he stated.
Calzadilla insisted that the initiative to create the party was not exclusively his own. He explained that it all began after the meeting on February 18, 2026, in Madrid, where around 120 Cubans from the European exile gathered with Mike Hammer, the chief of mission of the United States Embassy in Cuba.
"This initiative isn't even originally mine. People attribute it to me because I was the one who expressed it," she stated. "After February, when we had the meeting with Mr. Mike Hammer here in Madrid, some of us understood that what we had achieved that day, the level of organization we had demonstrated, and the serious proposals we brought to the table, meant it was time to do something with that."
Regarding her role at the helm of the PLCC, Calzadilla emphasized that the presidency she holds is provisional. "Amelia will be the president until a primary election process is carried out within the party, and it is confirmed that I am the president or someone else is chosen, which is also possible. In other words, I repeat, this does not revolve around me."
The activist also explained why she chose to found a party instead of continuing in a human rights organization. In her view, the latter are "monothematic"—primarily focused on political prisoners—while a political party "has a structure that allows them to work on multiple fronts simultaneously."
"I believe in classical liberalism as the solution to our nation's problems," he stated, mentioning economist Elías Amor as an intellectual reference and support in economic matters, describing his exchanges with him as "super intense" and enriching.
When asked about the flood of criticism she received after announcing the founding of the party, Calzadilla distinguished between criticism from "toxic and destructive" individuals—which, she said, would exist in any context—and those who have not updated their perception of her. "They haven't moved on from the image of the desperate mother at home shouting for gas, for electricity, for water. And I have not abandoned that woman. That woman exists."
Calzadilla concluded his reflection with a call to let the results speak for themselves. "I also believe that the idea of creating a political party in a country where our political participation has been prohibited for so long was about breaking the ice. And like anything else when you break the ice, there is always confusion and confrontation in that realm."
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