The historian and philosopher Alina Bárbara López Hernández published a reflection on Facebook regarding the right to protest in Cuba, triggered by a post from a journalist in Matanzas about the eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid, an event that sparked large protests in Spain.
The reporter shared the news on her wall and had an exchange with someone who questioned the impossibility of protesting in Cuba due to repression.
"The journalist, using various communicative fallacies, tried to justify the criticism with several arguments, including: 'In Cuba, demonstrations calling for regime change have been repressed: name a country where that doesn't happen,'" Alina pointed out.
The intellectual articulated a direct and documented rebuttal, based on her own experience as an activist subjected to several arrests so far in 2026.
"I have seen protests in Cuba for various reasons: people demanding freedom of expression and the press, respect for rights, freedom for political prisoners, electricity and food, freedom of movement; even respect for the civil rights enshrined in the Constitution," he wrote.
The philosopher listed posters she has seen at Cuban demonstrations: "Free Denis," "How long are they going to kill us?", "How long does the people have to suffer?", "Socialism yes, repression no," and "Begging for rights is a coward's thing."
Regarding the latter, she clarified that it is a phrase by Antonio Maceo and that she herself carried it on June 14, 2023, on the anniversary of the hero's birth, but it was confiscated under the classification of "illegal propaganda against the constitutional order."
"A judge ordered its destruction in November 2023, in the ruling of the trial where I was convicted for the crime of 'disobedience,'" he recounted.
In all the cases he described, individuals were arrested, most were prosecuted, and some were sentenced to several years in prison.
The central argument of her reflection points to a contradiction that the official journalist cannot resolve: although she has never witnessed a protest explicitly demanding a "change of regime," the demands that are made are also not tolerated.
"I have never seen a protest that explicitly demands 'regime change,' that is, a change in the constitutional order. But if what people are asking for—freedom, rights, an end to political imprisonment, dignified living conditions—are not guaranteed under the current regime, then do we not have more than enough reasons to wish for a change?" he inquired.
López Hernández concluded his reflection with a statement that encapsulates his philosophical and civic stance: "If the current regime deems those aspirations illegal, then it is not a regime that deserves to be perpetuated."
The post comes just days after her fifth detention of the year, which occurred when State Security intercepted her as she was leaving for her monthly civic protest at the Parque de la Libertad in Matanzas, where on the 18th of each month she demands amnesty for political prisoners.
Since June 18, 2024, López Hernández has been under a precautionary measure of house arrest as part of the so-called "case 40," a process shared with sociologist Jenny Pantoja Torres on charges of "assault"; the Prosecutor's Office is requesting four years in prison for her and three for Pantoja.
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