Cuban activist Oscar Casanella recalled in an interview with Tania Costa, at CiberCuba, the moment when State Security agents brutally beat him during the independent LGTBI march in Havana on May 11, 2019, an experience he described with a powerful phrase: “I thought I was going to die that day.”
Casanella explained that he attended that demonstration in support of his friend Ariel Ruiz Urquiola and out of solidarity with the LGTBI community, with whom he had shared experiences during his studies at the Faculty of Biology. "No, I am not gay, but I have many friends who are. At that moment, I was mainly there to support my friend Ariel Ruiz Urquiola," he stated. He clearly summarized his stance on sexual diversity: "The issue is whether people are good or bad, not what they do with their private lives."
The march had been spontaneously called on social media following the cancellation by CENESEX —the National Center for Sexual Education led by Mariela Castro— of the twelfth edition of the official conga against homophobia and transphobia. Between 200 and 300 people marched from the Paseo del Prado to the Malecón with slogans like "Yes, we can," until the police and plainclothes officers dispersed them.
Casanella acknowledged that his presence at the march was "a terrible miscalculation." He trusted that the coverage by the international press and the presence of diplomats — including Mara Tekach, chargé d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba — would deter the regime from acting with violence. "I didn't think they would dare to do something like that in front of me, especially since I was protesting peacefully," he said. He attended the march with his wife and their one-year-old son.
The repression did not take long to arrive. State Security agents identified him by name and forcibly removed him from the demonstration. "They grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out of the protest, naming me: 'Óscar Casanella, you are not going to continue protesting, you are not going to stay in this march.'"
After immobilizing him behind a construction barrier located at Prado and San Lázaro, the assault began. “They were brutal because what they were doing was trying to cuff me, and finally, they handcuffed me. And then the beating started,” he recounted.
The independent journalist Mónica Baró Sánchez filmed part of the aggression and witnessed how the agents struck Casanella on the forehead. A correspondent from an international agency also captured the moment they attempted to restrain him. The next day, Casanella was photographed with visible injuries, and on May 21, he filed a complaint with the Military Prosecutor's Office for bodily injuries, deprivation of liberty, and coercion, providing photos and videos as evidence.
The story arose in the context of the interview that Tania Costa conducted for CiberCuba, partly inspired by words from the activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who had remarked about Casanella: "I don't know if Óscar is gay, but Óscar was there." The participation of a heterosexual man in that march was, according to the host, something remarkable in a society characterized by machismo.
Casanella was scheduled to appear this Friday, the 28th, before an immigration judge in Miami, as part of his removal process that has been unresolved for over a year since his final asylum hearing took place in June 2025 without a verdict. The new hearing unexpectedly arose in August 2026, with neither he nor his lawyer anticipating it. Now it has been postponed to January 2027.
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