Related videos:
Yoel Alejandro Pérez Serrano, the young self-employed worker from El Cobre who became known for directly confronting the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel, returned this Sunday to challenge the Cuban regime with a protest in the streets: barefoot and in his underwear, he held a white sheet with the words "FREEDOM", "DEMOCRACY", "JUSTICE", and "DIGNITY" written in red letters, as documented by independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada on his social media under the title "The Dignity Sheet in El Cobre."
The images, captured in front of a bare red brick wall, show the young man from the Guamuta neighborhood holding the fabric with both arms extended: on one side, the words "Freedom" and "Democracy"; on the other, "Justice" and "Dignity."
Pérez Serrano is an unknown face to those following Cuban reality. In November 2025, during Díaz-Canel's official visit to El Cobre to assess the damage caused by Hurricane Melissa, the young man publicly confronted him, demanding accountability for the abandonment of the victims with a straightforward phrase: "They left us alone."
That exchange went viral internationally and was identified as a symbol of public discontent in an area where the hurricane had left 90% of the Guamuta community with nothing.
During that same visit, Díaz-Canel responded to a victim who had lost her bed with the phrase: "I don't have one to give you right now either."
Far from retreating in the face of the pressures that followed that confrontation, Pérez Serrano channeled his activism into writing as well. He is the author of the testimonial book “The Dictatorship Under the Shadows of Fear”, available on Amazon in both physical and digital editions, in which he recounts the Cuban crisis from the inside: endless lines, hospitals lacking resources, and manipulated education.
The young man himself described his work as "an act of survival and a legacy for his truth to continue speaking for him in case he suffers reprisals."
In recent social media posts, Pérez Serrano acknowledged the weight of staying active under the regime: "A path full of challenges, especially when living under a regime that suffocates hopes and dreams," he wrote, adding that "personal fatigue becomes a constant companion."
However, he reaffirmed that he will not abandon his convictions: "Freedom is more than a concept; it is the very essence of our being," he stated, defining it as "the right to live without fear, to express ourselves without censorship, and to dream without limits."
The protest this Sunday occurs in a context of a sustained increase in individual dissent in Cuba. Given the impossibility of organizing collective demonstrations due to the severe penal response of the current Penal Code, citizens have resorted to homemade signs, written sheets, and live broadcasts on social media.
The Cuban Observatory of Conflicts recorded 1,311 protests in May 2026, an increase of 65.3% compared to the same month the previous year, with 527 cases classified as direct challenges to the police state. In April 2026, 775 people remained imprisoned for political reasons on the island.
As Pérez Serrano himself summarized: "Although the road is long, I know that every step counts in this pursuit of a future where human rights are a reality, not just a dream."
Filed under: