The Cuban activist Amelia Calzadilla commemorated this Monday the third anniversary of her arrival in Spain with an emotional post published on Facebook in which she describes her personal transformation and draws a stark contrast between the life she left behind in Cuba and the one she has built in Madrid alongside her husband Antonio «Tony» Díaz and their three children.
"Three years since we arrived in Spain. And in three years I have been able to redirect my life and erase the worries from my children's minds," wrote Calzadilla, who left the island in November 2023 after months of harassment by the Cuban State Security.
"I have never again monitored the water pump to prevent it from burning out; I have not argued with any neighbor over the noise; I have not stood in line to buy food; nor have I made sure that the butcher is not cheating me on the weight of the chicken or that the storekeeper is not mixing the milk with sugar to make it heavier," he recounted.
He also described the surprise he felt from services that are routine in Spain: paying with his phone, shopping online, using an app to know when the bus arrives, or seeing the Christmas lights turn on. "I have been moved by things I never thought I would get excited about," he admitted.
At 35, she returned to her studies, something that the ongoing crisis in Cuba had prevented her from considering. With irony, she reflected: "Now that I think about it, I needed more light in my neurons than on the power lines, although the power lines left much to be desired."
Calzadilla came into the public eye in June 2022 when she denounced in a viral video on Facebook the lack of gas in her building in the Cerro municipality, where 58 families had been without supply for nearly eight years. This public exposure brought her threats, surveillance, and police summonses. Her husband was detained in June 2023 and left for Spain in September of that year; she followed him months later with their children. In December 2023, the political police informed them via text message that they could not return to the island.
From exile, her activism did not cease. She went on to coordinate programs at the organization Citizenship and Freedom, joined the Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba, and in May 2026 founded the Cuban Classic Liberal Party, which is center-right in orientation and of which she is president. In July 2026, she reported that State Security summoned her parents in Cuba as a means of pressure against her.
In his text this Monday, he acknowledged that he left Cuba "with a heavy heart" for leaving his family behind, but he stated that this decision allowed him to raise his voice in support of the victims of Cuban communism and to organize with other compatriots to work for the country they dream of.
"Today I celebrate freedom as if it were my birthday because exile has made me be reborn, and that deserves to be celebrated. Also because we must be grateful, especially when there are so many people inside wishing to normalize their lives and simply live in peace. But while I celebrate, I do not abandon the desire to return, and with each passing day, I am more determined to do so. I want to enjoy these same privileges with others on the inside," confessed Amelia Calzadilla.
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