Carolina Barrero is an art historian, cultural promoter, and Cuban activist. She graduated from the History of Art faculty at the University of Havana. In Cuba, she worked at the Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center. In Spain, where she holds citizenship, she was a fellow at the Museo Nacional del Prado in the Sponsorship and Communications Department and has worked in art galleries.
Barrero is part of the 27N movement that emerged from the protests of hundreds of young people on November 27, 2020, in front of the Ministry of Culture in Havana, to denounce the harassment against the San Isidro Movement (MSI) as well as the lack of freedoms and the repression that is rising on the island against anyone who expresses or thinks differently from the regime.
On January 27, 2021, two months later, in light of the breakdown of dialogue with the authorities of the Ministry of Culture, young artists gathered once again in front of the agency for a peaceful protest. On that occasion, Barrero was arrested along with several members of the 27N group.
Since then, Barrero has been the victim of several arbitrary detentions, such as the one on January 31 in front of the National Assembly of People's Power, located at the Capitol in Havana, alongside the rapper Maykel Osorbo Castillo, with whom he was conducting a live broadcast defending the citizens' right to call for Alpidio's resignation.
Barrero has been warned and threatened during those interrogations, where she was suggested to "better return to Spain," lest she be regulated and subsequently prohibited from leaving.
In February 2021, Barrero, along with the activist Solveig Font, presented a petition on behalf of the 27N movement to the National Assembly and the Council of State in Havana, seeking to revoke the positions of Alpidio Alonso Grau as deputy and Minister of Culture of Cuba due to the violence with which the minister and other officials attacked the young people who were peacefully spending the night in front of the institution. Days later, Barrero was detained by police agents while doing some shopping.
In February 2012, State Security threatened the young woman with charges of "clandestine printing" against public disorder, as outlined in Article 210 of the Cuban Penal Code, after Barrero printed an image of José Martí adorned with stars, which she intended as a tribute to the Apostle's birthday on January 28.
