The historian and Doctor of Historical Sciences Ivette García González, former tenured professor at the University of Havana, published on Thursday on her Facebook profile an analysis titled "Some Lessons from Civic Struggle" in which she outlines eight points for transforming citizen discontent into an organized political strategy capable of ending the dictatorship.
The text, published on September 3, acknowledges that the cycle of resistance that began between 2020 and 2021 has not achieved its primary objective, although the spontaneous protests demonstrate that civic energy persists.
For García González, that energy is not enough on its own. “We must translate those protests into a strategy of struggle. Otherwise, we will continue repeating the cycle of 'crisis-protests-withdrawal of protests' [...]. The dictatorship persists, people are exhausted, and life is much more than social upheavals,” he writes.
One of the most straightforward points of the analysis highlights a recurring error: criticizing those who take to the streets for material reasons. "Why do we criticize people in Cuba for protesting about food, electricity, and water, instead of 'for freedom'?" the scholar asks, answering that any reason for protest is valid on the path to democracy.
In the same vein, he suggests reframing what is often seen as a defeat: "Why, instead of condemning people for leaving the protest when they turn on the electricity, do we not view that outcome as the victory that it is?"
The historian also notes progress in civic awareness: the social bases of the regime have diminished, the spectrum of dissent has expanded, and several coalitions for action have emerged. Nonetheless, she insists: "We need concrete and impactful results, victories even if they are small. We have had them, but we do not recognize or proclaim them as such. That is why repression prevails and we grow very slowly."
The analysis comes at a time of ongoing escalation. The Cuban Observatory of Conflicts documented 1,415 protests and critical expressions in just July 2026, the highest monthly figure ever recorded. Prisoners Defenders counted 1,327 political prisoners at the end of that same month, a new historical record. The economy has already experienced a contraction exceeding 15% since 2020.
This text is the latest in a series of reflections published throughout 2026. At the end of August, García González asserted that the crisis alone does not produce political change, but rather frustration and spontaneous reactions without direction. A few days earlier, he declared the reformist cycle exhausted and called for a radical transformation.
Regarding the method, the academic dismisses violence and advocates for nonviolence: "Citizens only need empowerment and civic struggle with an effective strategy: nonviolence, which has toppled dictatorships across several continents and brought democracy to various countries, including totalitarian ones." She proposes to anchor that struggle in communities and neighborhoods, with horizontal leadership, utilizing social media without being dependent on it.
García González evokes the July 11, 2021 —the largest social uprising in Cuba in over six decades, spread across more than 40 cities— as a reference and warning: “The 11J can repeat itself, today there are even more reasons. However, it must not be the same. When we return, it should be the end, with strategy, cohesion, and an alternative at hand.”
"Neither ideologies nor messiahs, Cuba's struggle is for the end of the dictatorship, for democracy and human rights," concludes the historian, who calls for the creation of a broad Civic Movement as a coalition of organizations, groups, and independent citizens willing to lead that transformation.
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