Related videos:
Republican Senator Tom Cotton invoked this Monday the upcoming fifth anniversary of the historic protests of July 11, 2021, in Cuba, stating that thousands of citizens peacefully took to the streets to demand freedom and a better future after decades of repression.
"As we approach the fifth anniversary of the protests on July 11, 2021, in Cuba, let us remember why thousands of ordinary Cubans peacefully took to the streets across the country: a demand for basic freedoms and opportunities for themselves, their families, and their future, after enduring decades of repression under a brutal Marxist regime," the legislator wrote on his X account.
The July 11 protests marked the largest social outbreak recorded in Cuba since the triumph of the Revolution in 1959. The protest began spontaneously in San Antonio de los Baños, in Artemisa, and within a few hours spread to more than 70 locations across the country, including Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Matanzas, Holguín, and Palma Soriano.
Thousands of people took to the streets shouting "Homeland and Life!", "Freedom!", and "We are not afraid!" to denounce the shortage of food and medicine, prolonged blackouts, and the lack of political freedoms.
The regime's response was immediate. That same day, Miguel Díaz-Canel made a televised call that was etched in the memory of Cubans when he declared that "the order of combat is given," urging government supporters to confront the protesters.
The repression resulted in at least one fatality, Diubis Laurencio Tejeda, who died after being shot in the back in the Havana neighborhood of La Güinera, as well as more than 1,500 arrests, according to the organization Justicia 11J.
Five years later, the judicial consequences of those protests are still ongoing. A report from Justicia 11J published in April 2026 indicated that 338 people were still serving sentences related to the demonstrations, while human rights organizations estimated the number of political prisoners in Cuba to be 1,281 in May of this year.
The anniversary arrives in a context of growing social discontent. The worsening of the energy crisis has led to an increase in protests in various parts of the Island. Just this Monday, residents of Jaimanitas took to the streets after more than 24 hours without electricity, chanting slogans like "Down with the dictatorship!" and "No one can endure this!", just a few hours before the National Electric System suffered another total outage, the seventh in just 18 months.
The activities for the fifth anniversary of 11J have already begun to be organized both inside and outside of Cuba. In Miami, the organization Cuban Freedom March has called for a gathering on the upcoming July 11 under the slogan "Actions, not words," while the Cuban Classical Liberal Party announced a series of events from July 9 to 11 at Puerta del Sol in Madrid.
"We commemorate the fifth anniversary of the mass protests in Cuba to demand concrete actions that drive change in the regime," said Alián Collazo, director of Cuban Freedom March, while presenting the call to action.
Filed under: