Eliécer Ávila Cicilia is a political activist and opponent of the Cuban government. He was born in 1985 in Puerto Padre, Las Tunas, Cuba. He graduated in 2009 from the University of Informatics Sciences (UCI).
Eliécer became a well-known figure in 2008 for confronting the then-president of the National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcón. The video of the student assembly, in which Eliécer asks uncomfortable questions to the revolutionary leader, spread across social media and marked the beginning of this young Cuban's opposition and dissenting path.
Ávila, a member of the Young Communist Union (UJC) and a prominent activist of the University Student Federation (FEU), approached Alarcón to ask about, among other things, the purchasing power of Cubans and their right to travel freely abroad. From his position as a young communist actively fighting against the illegalities occurring within the UCI, Eliécer expressed his intention to contribute to the construction of a socialism that needed change, but always from within the revolution.
In 2013, he participated in a tour across various countries in Europe and North America, and upon his arrival at José Martí International Airport, he was interrogated by state security forces, and his family faced reprisals. Like other activists operating within the island, he suffered arrests and the confiscation of documents and computers.
He is the founder in 2014 and current president of the Cuban opposition party Somos Más (SOMOS+), which proclaims in its principles and program to be "a movement that calls on all Cubans who wish to participate in the beautiful and challenging adventure of helping to build a modern, prosperous, and free country."
Ávila lives in Miami with his wife and daughter.
