A generation of young artists, intellectuals, historians, filmmakers & mldr; grouped in ‘Archipiélago’, the citizen action platform that has 30,000 followers on Facebook (FB), aspires to become one of the promoters of a peaceful change in Cuba, spreading their ideas through the Internet.
Four months after the civil protest of July 11, ‘Archipelago’ published an advertisement on FB – a mixture of audacity with naivety – in which it called for the ‘Civic March for Change’, with two objectives: freedom of political prisoners and search for a ‘democratic solution to the national problem ‘.
Heads the movement a young playwright, recently arrived in Spain from Cuba, after being harassed by the regime apparatus that, after not letting him leave his house or access the Internet on the day of the car, seems to have preferred to get rid of him.
The protest that did not exist, for the effort to suffocate it without sparing an arsenal of means (uniformed policemen, state security agents in civilian clothes, government sympathizers with picket signs), it was scheduled for the same day that – with 70 percent of the country fully vaccinated – quarantine rules were lifted, tourists returned – after the closure due to the pandemic – and children returned to school.
Too many events to add parades of walkers dressed in white clothes, sheets and flowers, topped with casseroles at nightfall. So, faced with the militarization of the streets, the conveners stayed at home and they chose to extend the protest until November 27.
The demonstrations of July 11, unprecedented in 60 years, were also gestated in a group of FB, ‘La Villa del Humor’, nickname by which the city of San Antonio de los Baños, headquarters for many years of the International Humor Biennial.
From that municipality – home to the most important military air base in Cuba – a spontaneous demonstration started, made up of thousands of residents, more concerned with food than democracy, outraged by the blackouts, water cuts and lack of medicines.
The wave of deaths from the pandemic contributed to what began as a show of boredom and was transformed – at the cry of “Homeland and Life” – into an unprecedented demand for freedom, which spread like wildfire through 62 Cuban cities.
It did not take long for the guardians of orthodoxy to extinguish the flare, with the balance – according to an NGO for the defense of human rights – of one dead, dozens injured and thousands of detainees, of which hundreds are still in prison.
As Silvio Rodríguez wrote on his blog: “The cats came out of the house to see what the mice were doing & rdquor ;.
In his first speech as president, Miguel Diaz-Canel displayed the ardor of the neophyte: “Cuba will not make concessions or accept conditions & rdquor ;, and in this unavoidable meritorious exercise, the (electronic) engineer simplified the magnitude of the opposition that his government has faced this year — unparalleled in history of Cuba since the revolution – and branded the emergence of ‘Archipelago’ as: “Trojan Horse for a regime change backed by the United States”.
Although Cuba is the only country in the world, by dimension and culture, that can make the leap to digital without transitions, until recently only 5% of Cubans had access to the Internet.
Accustomed to scarcity – from lack of food and medicine to freedoms. Cuba has once again lost another opportunity. The use of the old remedies, against the peaceful attempt of a population battered by discouragement, only contributes to ruin the hope of a people without freedoms, drowned in poverty.
To measure tremor — tremor that has already begun — it will be necessary to reach a consensus so that Cubans can decide their future in a sovereign way. Despite blockades of all kinds and with the help of the Internet, the young people of ‘La Villa del humor’ and ‘Archipiélago’ they will not give up.
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The Castro regime today is an anachronism and the Cuban people deserve a change – as soon as possible – to avoid the latent eruption and the US needs to have control of the backyard, before it Thucydides trap lead them to a new war far from home.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com