Cuban Lady in White Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Participating in the 11J (11 July) Protests

Abascal is also a member of the Pedro Luis Boitel Party for Democracy. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 18 November 2021 — The Lady in White Sissi Abascal Zamora was sentenced this Thursday to six years in prison for her participation in the protests on July 11 (11J) on the island. Abascal, who  is also a member of the Pedro Luis Boitel Party for Democracy, was accused of the alleged crimes of contempt, attack and public disorder.

As reported to Radio Televisión Martí  by Armando Abascal, her father, the Municipal Court of Jovellanos, in Matanzas, ratified the sentence requested by the Prosecutor’s Office in the trial of November 3 after her participation in the protests that took place in the town of Carlos Rojas. In addition, her father explained, an appeal was filed against the sentence and it will take ten business days for the decision to be known.

The former political prisoner also said that after the first ten days of the trial, his daughter, who is now in home confinement, must be transferred to the Matanzas women’s prison and wait behind bars for “the resolution of the appeal.”

The mother of the 23-year-old activist, Lady in White Zamora Annia, told Diario de Cuba that her daughter was accused by major Silvia Martínez Montero, the political police for Jovellanos. “The trial was rigged. The three lawyers who worked that day made a very good defense, but it is sad that this work is not enough. It is a single power and the Prosecutor’s Office manipulates everything. Sissi was defended by a lawyer from Jovellanos, whose name is Vladimir, but their hands are tied,” he said.

Zamora also denounced that on July 11 his daughter was beaten by several civilian-clad law enforcement officers in front of the continue reading

Carlos Rojas police station when they tried to find out where the government opponent Armando Abascal was being detained.

“The protest had already ended, everyone had withdrawn, my daughters Lisi Abascal, Sissi Abascal and I remained,” he said. “Then a bus arrived full of women in civilian clothes, between 30 and 40, who attacked us horribly. We suffered injuries, my daughter Lisi was hit on the head with a bottle and she had to receive stitches.”

After learning of the six-year sentence for Sissi Abascal Zamora, Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, asked on her social networks: “Where are the henchmen who beat her?” “In Cuba there are no laws that protect you, much less justice. Freedom and justice for Sissi and all Cuban political prisoners without exclusion,” she demanded.

According to the prosecution’s accusation, Sissi Abascal Zamora during the protests shouted phrases such as: “homeland and life,” “down with the Castros” and “down with the Revolution,” and “she asked the local residents to join her.”

The Prosecutor’s Office also argued that the young woman placed a white sheet on the branch of a tree in the park that read “homeland and life,” while the protesters shouted “phrases against the revolutionary process” and expressions such as “henchmen, murderers, fucking police,” and also “banging on pots and pans with sticks.”

The NGO Cubalex, a legal information center, has documented 1,271 detainees as a result of the spontaneous demonstrations of 11J. Of these, at least 659 are still in prison, and, according to a recent report, 42 have been convicted in summary trials and eight in ordinary trials have been verified.

Cubalex considers of particular concern “the use of the figure of sedition to impose exemplary sanctions on at least 122 people,” with prosecution requests of up to 30 years in prison.

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Eusebio Leal Takes Possession of the Plaza de Armas in Havana

Local passersby taking photos next to the statue of Eusebio Leal, recently inaugurated in Old Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 17 November 2021 — The brand new statue of Eusebio Leal, inaugurated with pomp this Monday in front of the Museum of the City, the former palace of the Captains General in Old Havana, by the president-designate himself, Miguel Díaz-Canel, is only approached by national tourists, who are the only ones that recognize the historian of the Cuban capital rendered in bronze.

The gesture of the sculpture, the work of José Villa Soberón and Gabriel Cisneros Báez, which represents the deceased historian in life size, walking with documents in hand and “step alive,” as described by the official press, lends itself to passersby leaning on him and take selfies. He also begins to be the target of jokes and memes.

Leal became known at the national level through a program that Cuban official television broadcast for years under the title of Andar La Habana (Walk Havana), a phrase that has now become popular slang to describe the daily hustle and bustle in search of basic products that many times takes city residents from one municipality to another. continue reading

The place where the figure has been placed could not be more significant. Leal extensively described the wooden street located in front of the palace, the Plaza de Armas, which stands before the door of the building, and El Templete which, a few meters away, marks the founding site of the Villa de San Cristóbal de La Habana 502 years ago.

But above all, because Leal was always a great admirer of European royal houses. When King Juan Carlos I visited the Island in 1999, to participate in the Ibero-American Summit, the historian guided him to the throne that the Spanish royal settlements had been waiting for five centuries, but the monarch declined to sit.

Years before, in a select group of friends, Leal had summed up his admiration for power in one sentence: “I am a monarchist and Fidel is my king,” a premise that he followed all his life, in which he enjoyed official privileges but also had to fight against bureaucracy and prohibitions to promote the restoration process in the historic center of the city.

In addition to his political predilections, this Wednesday there were not many who took a photo with the recently inaugurated statue and most of those who did so were Cubans, before the curious gaze of the tourists who, with self-confidence and without a mask, strolled through the place. Attentive to every cell phone that came out of a pocket were the plainclothes police, fearful that some activist would come to the sculpture to make a sovereign rudeness.

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More than 650 Detainees from the July 11 (11J) Protests in Cuba Are Still in Prison

The moderator of the Archipelago platform, Daniela Rojo, has been missing for the fifth day. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 17 November 2021 — Daniela Rojo, mother of two young children and moderator of the Archipiélago platform, architect of the initiative for the 15N (15 November), is missing for the fifth day. The young woman was already been detained for almost a month for participating in the protests on July 11.

“The Istanbul Protocol (UN, 2004) strictly prohibits the confinement of women in unofficial or secret places of detention, and warns that in these circumstances, women could suffer sexual and other abuses,” recalls the legal advisory NGO Cubalex, which this Wednesday issued a statement on the networks updating the situation of the prisoners of that day.

Along with Rojo, Lázaro Lamelas Ortiz and Pedro Lago Segura remain unaccounted for, reported the group, which denounces that both the young woman and Osmel González and Pedro Albert Sánchez had their Facebook profiles removed. continue reading

To date, the organization has documented 1,271 detainees as a result of the spontaneous demonstrations of July 11. Of them, at least 659 are still in prison, and, according to their text, it has verified 42 convicted in summary trials and 8 in ordinary trials.

Of 269 more people, the report continues, the prosecutor’s request is already known, ranging from a single year to 30 years in prison. Cubalex considers of particular concern “the use of the figure of sedition to impose exemplary sanctions on at least 122 people.”

To get an idea of the numbers of political convicts, the NGO recalls that before July 11, Cuban Prisoners Defenders registered 152.

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Yunior Garcia: ‘Now the Important Thing is Those Who are Detained Inside Cuba’

This Thursday, García Aguilera will make statements that will reveal the state of terror that exists in Cuba: “I am going to tell everything. It is going to be a very important day.” (Screen capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 17 November 2021 — Leaving Cuba was a “personal” decision that Yunior García Aguilera made at the end of the day on Sunday, November 14, he said this Wednesday. Traveling to Spain was “the only way he had” so that he would not be silenced and thus avoid being annulled by the regime, he said in a conversation with the filmmaker Ián Padrón through his program Right to Reply.

The coordinator of the Archipiélago platform said that his departure has been “celebrated as a victory for” the Government, but what it really won was “the terror that they have implanted. One has to wonder how long that terror can win.” The conversation from Madrid takes place two days after the scheduled day for the Civic March for Change in Cuba on November 15, an initiative that the regime managed to prevent through a coup of repression.

The activist reported that he went to the Spanish Embassy “to request a visa” in expectation of being detained, and thus having the option of leaving the country. “If my only weapon has always been the word, I had to find a way to defend that word.”

He said that a moment before the link with Padrón he had had “a difficult dialogue with the rest of the members of the Archipiélago.” I understand, he acknowledged, that “this is a difficult decision.” continue reading

During the conversation, he also mentioned that since the early hours of Sunday he was harassed at home and admitted that “he was not prepared for it” despite having previously faced violent repression. García revealed that the only person in his building who collaborated and participated in the act of repudiation against him was the president of the CDR [Committee for the Defense of the Revolution], who even offered his apartment so his windows could be covered with Cuban flags. “There were no people from the neighborhood, but there were faces I recognized from the 11J (11 July) team in front of ICRT,” he said, referring to the group that insulted him on that day of protests before he was arrested.

“My family was present, (…) The last few days have perhaps been more difficult than I could have anticipated. When you have a situation of solitary confinement for so long (…) you enter a state where you start to worry not for your life, but for how to face that life with dignity,” he declared.

García Aguilera said that being away from the island does not mean that he is going to renounce his ideas, his principles, his objectives, but he did point out that these are moments that changed his life. “When you experience things that I can only compare to fascism, a rage begins within you that is very difficult to control.”

His aim is to “be useful” and then return to his country, as well as working for the liberation of the Archipiélago activists who were arrested and whose whereabouts are still unknown. “I’m not going to rest until those people are free and safe.” He insists that, although everyone “is waiting for a statement from Yunior,” now “the important thing is those who are detained inside Cuba, who is not allowed to leave their home, who is without internet, who cannot speak.”

He announced that this Thursday he will make statements that will reveal the state of terror that is being experienced in Cuba: “I am going to tell everything. It will be a very important day.”

Yunior is in Spain in the company of his wife Dayana Prieto in a place that he did not want to specify for security reasons for the friends who have provided him with shelter. “We will be here for the next two weeks, in a place on the outskirts of Madrid.” The activist’s objectives remain “intact,” despite the “very hard” moments he has lived through.

See also:
Yunior Garcia Aguilera Will March ‘Alone’ on 23rd to Malecon this Sunday the 14th’

University of Havana Plans a ‘Great University Fair’ for the Same Place Yunior Garcia Will March on Sunday

Cuban State Security Announces To Yunior Garcia That He Will Go To The Combinado Del Este Prison

Cuba: A Violent Crowd Surrounds Yunior Garcia’s House and Threatens the Foreign PressBlack Berets, Red Kerchiefs and Flags to Silence the Cries of Freedom in CubaSurveillance and Acts of Repudiation Muzzle 15N in CubaCuba: Family Member Confirms to ’14ymedio’ that Yunior Garcia and Dayana Prieto Disappeared on Tuesday
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Yunior Garcia Arrives in Spain ‘With Our Ideas Intact’ and Will Soon Speak of His Departure from Cuba

Until a year ago, Yunior García Aguilera was a ‘respectable artist’ according to the Cuban government, which now constantly describes him as a mercenary. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 17 November 2021 — “We arrived in Spain, alive, healthy and with our ideas intact.” This is what the Cuban playwright Yunior García Aguilera reported in his first communication since he landed in Madrid this Wednesday, at approximately 2:00 p.m. local time (8:00 a.m. Cuban time) on an Iberia flight, together with his wife, Dayana Prieto. In a post published on Facebook, the activist, one of the leaders of the Archipiélago platform and the main promoter of the 15N (15 November) Civic March for Change, thanks the “many people who have made this trip possible.”

“I have been without communication for several days and I need to update myself on the situation of other members of Archipiélago,” explains García, about whom nothing was known since Sunday, when the security forces prevented him from carrying out his plan to march through the streets of Havana. The playwright also announces that “very soon” he will speak about his “odyssey.”

Archipiélago learned of the news of García Aguilera’s departure from the Europa Press agency, which had the scoop, and reported that it would offer a statement as soon as it had “some first-hand information.”

According to El País, diplomatic sources declared that “discreet arrangements had been made for García’s trip for days, that he had a valid long-term visa to enter Spain,” and that leaving the country is “at his own request,” which has not been confirmed since the playwright has not offered his own explanation.

The same newspaper, based on “sources close to García,” continue reading

says that the “decision” was due to “brutal police pressure suffered in recent weeks.”

A representative of the Cuban government assured in statements to Efe that there has been no agreement between Havana and Madrid to facilitate the dissident’s departure from the country, that the Cuban authorities “have nothing to do” with that departure of García Aguilera and that the activist would have processed the tourist visa on his own.

In order to enter Spain, one of the requirements imposed on all travelers from Cuba – along with those from all areas considered at risk in relation to covid-19 – must present a negative PCR test, carried out within 48 hours, prior to their arrival in Spanish territory. There is no record that, since Sunday, García Aguilera and Prieto left their home for this purpose.

García Aguilera and his wife, Dayana Prieto, slept at home on Monday and went “for a walk” on Tuesday morning, relatives who visited the opponent’s home around midnight that same day told 14ymedio.

The mother of the playwright’s wife, visibly nervous, told this newspaper that it is unlikely that someone would break into the house and that García Aguilera’s plan was not to open the gate at the door of his house to any stranger. What they feared was that during their walk there had been an arrest.

The neighborhood where García Aguilera lives with his family, La Lisa, which was completely militarized between Sunday and Monday, presented total calm last night and, apparently, the surveillance had been lifted.

The Archipiélago platform declared the opponent and his wife missing on Tuesday, after a collaborator repeatedly knocked on the door of their house at around 6:00 in the evening without obtaining a response, and then asked for proof of life. Hours later, he confirmed his concern and urgently demanded proof that the couple was in good condition.
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Cuba: Family Member Confirms to ’14ymedio’ that Yunior Garcia and Dayana Prieto Disappeared on Tuesday

Yunior Garcia Aguila and his wife went for a walk on Tuesday and since then no one has heard anything about them. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 17 November 2021 — Yunior García Aguilera and Dayana Prieto slept at their house on Monday and went out for a walk on Tuesday morning. From that moment on, relatives who visited the opponent’s home near midnight of the same day lost track of the couple, according to family members who spoke to 14ymedio.

The mother of the playwright’s wife, visibly nervous, told this newspaper that it is unlikely that someone would break into the house and that García Aguilera’s plan was not to open the gate at the door of his house to any stranger. What they fear is that, during the walk, there was an arrest.

The La Lisa neighborhood, where García Aguilera lives with his family was completely militarized between Sunday and Monday, but presented total calm last night and, apparently, the surveillance had been lifted.

The Archipiélago platform declared the opponent and his wife missing after a collaborator repeatedly knocked on the door of their house at around 6:00 in the evening without obtaining a response, and asked for a proof of life. Hours later, and after talking to this newspaper which had also verified the absence of García Aguilera, he confirmed his concern and urgently demanded proof that the couple is in good condition.

This Tuesday also, Archipiélago denounced the disappearance of its moderator, Daniela Rojo, who, they say, has been “kidnapped” by State Security. “An official of those entities, without saying the exact word of the crime they commit (kidnapping), made it known to the family with total impudence, and without communicating where continue reading

they have her. Since then, her accounts on social networks have disappeared,” they say in a statement.

In the text, they specify that Rojo “is a young mother of two children” and is one of the members of the Archipiélago “who has suffered the most harassment and threats.” They note that last week she was summoned to the Department of Attention to Minors of the Ministry of the Interior for an “extensive interrogation” where she received “a veiled threat” related to the well-being of her children.

They also denounced “the arbitrariness and human rights violations” against the young woman, and “the treatment she may be receiving” given that previously after one of the “several arbitrary arrests where she was hooded, subjected to prolonged interrogations and harassment” Rojo, who is one of the Archipiélago moderators, published a video on her networks saying she would not participate in the Civic March for Change in order to have “a life and a future” and from that moment they lost communication with her.

A statement from the Commission to Support the 15N (15 November) protesters facing repression, denounced “the increase in the repressive wave” verified since the day before and during the 15th of November.

“There were despicable acts of repudiation, cutting off communication with the outside through intermittent internet cuts, and also internally because that measure was extended in some cases to fixed phone lines,” they said.

Also, in Camagüey, a mob of people went to the headquarters of the Archdiocese and carried out an act of repudiation this Monday against Father Alberto Reyes, who has demonstrated on many occasions against the Cuban Government. The priest earlier this week published a video in which he claimed to have been warned by the regime that clergy like himself who participated in the march called by Archipiélago were going to be arrested.

The group was accompanied by an official vehicle, according to a video broadcast on social networks, where the repressors are also heard shouting offensive phrases against Father Reyes.

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Cuban Priest Alberto Reyes Will be in the Civic March Despite the Ban

For this reason, the priest Alberto Reyes rejects to back down and indicates that his function is, precisely, to be with the citizens who demand freedom.

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 15 November 2021 — Camagüey priest Alberto Reyes, who has demonstrated on many occasions against the Cuban Government, has released a video in which he claims to have been warned that priests like him who participate in the Civic March for Change called by the Archipelago opposition collective will be arrested.

“They have called from the Office of Religious Affairs to report that they are aware of the intention of Father Ronaldo Montes de Oca, Castor Álvarez Devesa and me to participate in the November 15 demonstration with our people and that they report that if we participate in this demonstration, we are going to be arrested,” he explains, looking at the camera.

For this reason, the priest refuses to back down and indicates that his function is precisely that of being with the citizens who demand freedom. “We are priests to preach the Gospel, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ speaks of freedom, it speaks of justice and it speaks of truth, this is what our people are asking for. If being detained is the price for being consistent with the preaching of the Gospel, so be it,” he accepts.

Reyes confirms that this Monday he will go out to support the 15N (15 Novmber). “God willing, tomorrow [Monday] we will be accompanying our continue reading

people through our streets, which are still imprisoned,” he concludes.

Sources linked to the Catholic Church maintain that the head of the Office of Religious Affairs of the Communist Party of Cuba, Caridad Diego Bello, has said in this regard: “Neither amnesty, nor indulgence. There will be no soft hand with priests or religious who participate in the 15N.”

On November 9, a group of 15 Catholic priests signed a letter in which they demanded that the Police not beat their own people. “We do not want blood to be shed again,” or “to hear gunshots again,” they added, “that is not the path that will lead us to the Cuba we need and that we all desire.”

The letter, addressed to the National Revolutionary Police, State Security and “all those who in these days have been summoned to repress the citizen march of November 15,” urged that violence be abandoned. “Don’t hit the protesters because both you and they live amidst so much scarcity and misery.”

“When what happened on November 15 is written, there will only be two alternatives: talk about those who were summoned to beat and repress but decided to protect and take care of their compatriots; or tell how you hit your brother and how you repressed the person demanding what many others yearn for,”the text said.

Just two days later, the curia joined the petition more smoothly. “Every Cuban should be able to express and share freely and with respect, their personal opinions, their thoughts or their convictions, even when they disagree with the majority,” said the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba, which spoke of the “increase in a climate of tension and confrontation that is not healthy and does not benefit anyone. “

The Cuban Conference of Religious Men and Women (Concur) spoke in the same direction.

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‘Here, Today, Even the Street Sweeper Belongs to the Political Police’

The authorities have deployed their security forces in the vicinity of San Rafael so that the scenes of popular protests that were seen on July 11 are not repeated this 15N. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, Juan Diego Rodríguez, 15 November 2021 — Havana woke up this Monday with an autumn atmosphere and a wide police operation to prevent the Civic March called for three in the afternoon on November 15 in various parts of the city and the country. The vicinity of the Capitol, Central Park and the Malecón are among the most guarded areas.

On the Boulevard of San Rafael Street, a pedestrian path that connects the Centro Habana municipality with Old Havana, the presence of uniformed police officers and members of the State Security even outnumber the passers-by. “Here even the street sweeper is part of the political police today,” a customer who waits to shop at one of the hard currency stores located on that street ironizes.

Inside the store, the employees are not happy. They must remain guarding the premises until midnight but they have not been guaranteed a lunch or a snack despite the extension of working hours. The looks are uncomfortable but they avoid complaining out loud.

The police operation in the area has also scared off customers, who form a small line, something rare for a Monday. In the middle of the morning, a burly man dressed as a policeman calls out to others and they have a brief continue reading

meeting in a corner. Give directions, reiterate what needs to be done, and speak in short, authoritative sentences. He looks like a military man addressing his soldiers.

Many people all dressed in civilian clothes attend the rally to receive instructions on policing the Boulevard. There are apparent couples, elderly people that until a few minutes before anyone would have mistaken for a retiree walking down the street, and several men who repeat the pattern of short hair, a tight shirt and a watchful gaze that identifies the security force members in Cuba.

Shortly before, a man who was standing on the corner of the block had been called by a police officer who asked him why he was there. The gentleman was also waiting to enter the hard currency store but he moved away a bit to smoke. His identity card was checked and noted.

The tension is palpable in the air and it is evident that the authorities have deployed their security forces so that the scenes of popular protests that were seen by San Rafael on July 11 are not repeated in the place. Nor the scene of a lonely man with a placard like the one that Luis Robles starred in last December on that same road.

A young man passing by is followed by an old man who has seen him take out his mobile just as the meeting was taking place. He walks behind him for several blocks, until he reaches Reina Avenue, where he manages to lose track of him. “I was only able to make a phone call when I was in the middle of the street with cars passing on both sides,” he explains to this newspaper.

“I had to take refuge in the house of an aunt who lives nearby because they were following me, I’ve never felt like this in my own city,” he details. “They are using many old men for the operation, old men and women.”

In every street, in front of every shop and every bank, the siege is repeated. The informal vendors that are so abundant on Galiano, Reina and Monte avenues seem to have smelled danger and this Monday they are not there or are taking refuge inside the stairs and the thresholds of some doors.

“I went out to buy bread and there were very strange people in line at the bakery who are not from this neighborhood,” says María Eugenia, a retired resident of Los Sitio. “When I got to the counter I asked the employee to sell me an extra bread and I was going to pay her well, but she just looked at the line and said: Grandma, I can’t today.”

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The Humiliating ‘Victory’ of the Cuban Dictatorship

Government supporters during the act of repudiation against the home of Yunior García Aguilera this Sunday. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 16 November 2021 — From the failed assault on the Moncada barracks in 1953 until the ’Tarea Ordenamiento’* [Ordering Task] debacle, defeat has been a constant in the history of what has come to be called the Cuban Revolution. The intention to industrialize the country, the claim to “liberate” Latin America, the 10 Million Ton Harvest, the Food Plan, business improvement, the Granada disaster and the dismantling of the Wasp Network would be enough to affirm that the victories have been scarce.

At a price that no one will be able to calculate until the secret documents of the Ministry of the Interior are declassified, the repression to prevent the Civic March for Change called by the Archipiélago group has been effective only because the streets were kept empty by a blow of terror. This required the mobilization of thousands of troops throughout the country, as well as making hundreds of vehicles available and countless expenditures in logistics.

More than the disproportionate disbursement of public coffers to instill fear in an unarmed population, it will be necessary to assess how much was spent on political capital, how much international trust was squandered, how much disappointment in their own bases will have been provoked by this nonsense of using force against those who just wanted to walk through the streets. The streets of their own country.

No matter how abject the people who volunteered to participate in the repudiation rallies against the organizers of the march, the dirt that has remained on their consciences will grow with time. When their offspring see on social media the vulgarity, abuse, brutal intolerance with which their parents or grandparents angrily insulted decent citizens, they will have no way of explaining to their children or grandchildren that they were doing the right thing. continue reading

If that is the peace that has been proclaimed by the one who holds the title of “President of the Republic,” if that is the type of dialogue that he has claimed to be willing to promote, then it is he who provokes the confrontation and the desire to tell him: “Save yourself those proposals, we do not understand each other.”

This one of 15 November 2021 will be a bitter “victory” to remember, it will be swept under the carpet, as happened with the repudiation rallies of 1980 that do not appear in any glorious anniversary of those displayed by officialdom, and whose participation as a perpetrator no one proudly notes in their autobiography.

They should be ashamed.

*Translator’s note: Tarea ordenamiento = The [so-called] ‘Ordering Task’ which is a collection of measures that includes eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and others. 

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Surveillance and Acts of Repudiation Muzzle 15N in Cuba

Yunior García Aguilera showing his hand with a white rose through the window. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 16 November 2021 –The streets almost empty and tension in the air. This is how Havana experienced this Monday, a day in which independent groups had called for a Civic March for the freedom of political prisoners and a democratic change on the island. In the same avenues and shops that two days before were full of people, on this November 15 (15N), there were only uniformed or plainclothes police.

The day before, the playwright Yunior García Aguilera – one of the main organizers of the peaceful protest – had been locked in his house with the official mobs shouting in front of his door. Despite preventing him from leaving his home, the repressors could not prevent the activist from gifting the history of Cuba with image of a powerful civic spirit: a man imprisoned in his own home, putting his hand out of the window with a white rose.

The excessive police and repressive deployment that the Cuban regime has unleashed has not only affected those who, this Monday, were victims of acts of repudiation, suffered the cut off of internet access service, or were arrested while trying to go out on the street. The main cost has gone to the account of the authorities themselves, who have shown their ugliest face to a citizenry tired of the excessive controls that have increased significantly after the protests of July 11. continue reading

Maintaining this state of terror for a long time is almost impossible for the Plaza of the Revolution

In the streets, displeasure and indignation grow at the disproportion of forces between the unarmed citizens and the official forces ready to “face any action,” as president Miguel Díaz-Canel warned last Friday. Anger grows and, although fear still grips many throats, Castroism loses more followers every day among the relatives, neighbors and friends of those who are repressed.

Maintaining this state of terror for a long time is almost impossible for the Plaza of the Revolution. Although the leaders of the Communist Party have the desire to prolong, for months, the surveillance on every corner, the squads of political police lurking in front of the houses of the dissidents and the vociferous rallies of hatred around the houses of the activists, they lack the resources to do all this. This system got used to buying loyalties, even if it was with crumbs and there are no crumbs left.

The country is bankrupt and the people are fed up. Neither the economic crisis nor the popular unrest can be reversed in the short or medium term. Although this 15N they have managed to stifle the Civic March by appealing to the old methods of intimidation, in the air-conditioned offices of power in Cuba they already know that they cannot govern this way for long. They know that they lost the path to reach the heart of the people; they know that fear changed sides on this Island and now they are the ones who fear.

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This text was originally published on the Deutsche Welle website for Latin America.

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Repression Stifles the 15N March in Cuba and Spreads Popular Unrest

The streets of Havana continue with a strong police operation. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 15 November 2021 — Since dawn on Monday, State Security agents dressed in civilian clothes were deployed in squares and parks and took the rooftops near the Capitol building in Havana, as part of the operation to prevent the Civic March called for three in the afternoon of this November 15, a march that ultimately could not be carried out because of the repression.

“This is hot,” shared Yuniel, a young man who gave testimony to 14ymedio in the vicinity of Central Park. This 28-year-old from Havana was one of the few who dared to leave his home, in a day in which many parents prevented their young children and teenagers from setting foot outside their homes for fear of being arrested.

Plainclothes officers who pretended to be standing in line outside a store, streets with few passers-by, and vigilante groups on street corners marked this Monday, a day when repression managed to drown out the call to march, but also left a deep malaise among citizens, fed up with the increase in controls experienced on the island after the protests of July 11.

When the clock struck three in the afternoon, the time agreed for the Civic March, the almost deserted streets in some areas of Central Havana, Old Havana, Cerro and Plaza de la Revolución were the panorama on display. Many restless political police officers on the street corners, the occasional passerby in their daily work, and some people dressed in white.

“Here in Prado there are police, military and many segurosos – State Security agents — the atmosphere is very tense. I also see the international press, red berets and repudiators. When I was walking here I saw a small group dressed in white going up to Central Park, but very small,” described a young woman from the downtown promenade, who insisted on pointing out the presence of many “disguised policemen, especially dressed in blue and red.”

A couple of young people were detained near the Paseo del Prado while shouting “Patria y Libertad” under the terrified gazes of continue reading

some neighbors who were watching them from balconies or windows. The two men, yet to be identified, were quickly intercepted and arrested by police, according to a video posted on social media.

Galiano, one of the main streets of Centro Habana and the street that the protesters walked on July 11, remains closed to vehicles from its beginning on the avenue of the Malecón to Calle Reina. The road, a commercial artery with many covered walkways and close to Paseo del Prado, was considered as an alternative route for those who planned to march on 15N.

The day was atypical, without bustle and lines. “In one of the Carlos III’s stores they were selling bread and ham in national currency,” Yuniel said. One of the shop assistants showed her fear and mentioned that she was “crazy to go home” but had to be there until 9 pm. “They forced us to work,” she said.

The bank branch on Calle Aranguren, which normally closes at 3:30 pm, moved up the end of the day. “Today and tomorrow it closes at two in the afternoon,” said a civil guard to an astonished customer. Many private businesses did not open their doors and others warned their customers that they were suspending home delivery until next Wednesday.

Dozens of independent activists, artists and journalists have been detained in the last hours or remain under siege since Sunday to prevent them from leaving their homes. One of the few people who has been able to evade the police siege was the independent reporter Iliana Hernández, who left to march at 3 pm.

“My mission was to show them [the Government] that it was not impossible to escape as I have done on other occasions,” Hernández said in a video shared by CiberCuba. She also said that at some point in the next few hours they will arrest her but the important thing was that at three in the afternoon she was on the street “dressed in gray because today is a gray day for Cuba.” “It is sad that we have to live this way but for that we are fighting not to live like this anymore.”

Despite the surveillance, some went out dressed in white to tour the city, the color that the organizers of the call had promoted. Others showed their sympathy with the March in other ways: A 60-year-old state worker proudly showed the screen of her mobile with an image of her cousin “making an L with her hand the symbol of freedom” and let this newspaper know his how to sync with him for 15N.

“I do not see an end to this, if every time someone disagrees they go, they stage an act of repudiation,” said the woman, alluding to a change. “We are going to run out of young people, that is the greatest thing, but hopefully [the change] will come soon.”

For his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez, described this Monday as a “failed operation” referring to the call for a peaceful march on 15N, declared illegal by the Government.

“There is a lot to tell about all the good that has happened and there are also some things to reveal about this failed operation that tried to articulate and that has been a complete failure,” he said referring to the protests in a live broadcast from the website of Foreign Ministry’s Facebook page.

Rodríguez dedicated a large part of his speech to highlighting the reopening of the Island and spoke of the #CubaVive label used by officialdom in the last hours to show that the Island is experiencing “normal tranquility.” The hashtag also appears on several posters that have been used by the Rapid Response Brigades and repressors in acts of repudiation of opponents and members of the Archipiélago platform.

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Black Berets, Red Kerchiefs and Flags to Silence the Cries of Freedom in Cuba

Immense Cuban flags were unfurled to try to cover the windows of Yunior García Aguilera’s apartment. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 15 November 2021 — Several hours prior to November 15th, the date designated by the Cuban opposition to mobilize, the organizers, Archipiélago, denounced the “cruel blockade, illegal and inhumane” to which the Government subjects one of its leaders, Yunior García Aguilera.

The playwright, who had planned to go out and walk on Sunday, November 14th, dressed in white and with a white rose through Havana’s El Vedado, found himself under under siege in his home in Lisa on the outskirts of the capital, where he was once again visited by neighbors, who weeks back had knocked on his door to warn him that they would not allow him to conduct the Civic March for Change.

“You are at the service of the enemy of our people,” said the same woman who on November 1 led a similar act of repudiation at the gate of his home. “That is not true,” replied García Aguilera calmly. “It is true, you are at their service, and here in this community, this town, we will not allow any media show,” the neighbor continued calmly, but then suddenly exalted.

“I am defending my history, that of my children, the Revolution, my grandchildren,” she continued in an excited state. “And you are doing it in front of my house,” reproached the playwright gently. “Also. And I told you the other day when I came and I will repeat it today, we will not allow that activity. This neighborhood belongs to revolutionaries,” she concludes.

The video, filmed from outside and shared by the Government’s own operatives, shows the day García Aguilera experienced during the protest prior to November 15th, which he intended continue reading

would create an opening for other citizens.  Since September, all the regime’s might was focused on him, when he led the call for the Civic March for Change, which is scheduled for Monday in most of the Cuban provinces and over a hundred cities around the world–at least 120 have added their support, although in some the events took place on Sunday.

“The act of putting a citizen under siege to prevent him from walking a Havana street not only revealed itself as a repugnant act of ’the culture’ of repudiation and the practice of creating a perimeter of police in civilian dress, it also consisted of covering his window using the sacred national insignia as an embarrassing curtain of repression,” he also reproached on Archipiélago’s Facebook page, which underscored the twisted use of the national flag.

Some sympathizers of the opposition group had reminded people on social media that the use of the flag for political purposes had been considered a crime on some occasions, as an excuse to prosecute dissidents, such as San Isidro Movement member Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara.

The focus placed on García Aguilera is possibly what allowed that, at least, he was not arrested, as occurred with other members of Archipiélago in provinces with fewer media eyes on them. That was the case of Víctor González from Holguín, signer of the letter requesting authorization for the march in that province. In that same city, Miguel Montero, his personal friend and coordinator of the group, headed to the street to find out for himself and was detained and taken to a criminal investigation in Holguín at around 5 in the evening, though hours later he confirmed he was already home. Nothing is known about Daniela Rojo, from Guanabacoa, who has been missing for over 48 hours, despite those close to her having looked for her at the police station.

At least two other people were arrested in Quijote Park after yelling, “Long live democracy!” From what can be seen on a video shared on social media, some 15N sympathizers initiated an exchange of words, initially calm, with Government supporters. At the end of the conversation, both parties separated while the first group yelled “Long live freedom,”, to which the second group responded, “Long live Cuba’s Communist Party.” Subsequently, a police car appeared and detained the dissidents amid cries of “Viva Fidel” and “Viva la Revolución.”

A short distance from there, in the Central Park, President Miguel Díaz-Canel, dressed in a red T-shirt with Che Guevara’s face printed in black, participated in a sit-in organized by the so-called “Red Kerchiefs” in support of the regime. The leader wrote on his Twitter, “Members of several groups and leaders of civil society led an anti-imperialist event in protest of the unconventional warfare practices employed against peace in Cuba.”

Tony Ávila performed during the event and rain forced the attendees, including the President, to sit on the floor under the portico of the Alicia Alonso Grand Havana Theater.

“First Secretary of the Party and President of the Republic, Cuban Miguel Díaz-Canel, sat on the floor, among those young men and women bound together by their simplicity and the same sense of anger at what is wrong and love for the Island,” described the state newspaper Granma. A bucolic scene for an event that occurred a few kilometers from where García Aguilar was forcefully being prevented from walking.

 Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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‘I Don’t Sleep Much for Fear that a Piece of the Roof is Going to Fall on Me’

América is concerned that her life will “end in tragedy” because of the poor condition of all the roofs. (14ymedio)

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América de Jesús Prada bent over and over again to fill  the water bottles that she had placed in front of two other ladies’ buckets that were also full of water. The building’s cistern has been dry for almost a month, and when they bring the tanker truck that supplies them, they have to rush to store as much water as possible.

The woman has been living for 54 years on the top floor of the building marked with number 909, located at the intersection of Infanta and Carlos III streets, in Centro Habana. One of her neighbors, sitting on the stairs, waits patiently for her turn while she complains that there is hardly a “trickle” from the sink and that it is almost time “to go to the kitchen to start dinner.”

Water, however, is not the biggest problem for the inhabitants of this building. The worst thing is to endure the passing of the years with the anguish of living in the “uninhabitable.” América says that she has had to give up living with her children and her grandson who, in the face of so much danger, found it necessary to leave the house and that now they are “lent out” living in other homes. “This here has no solution, every now and then there are partial collapses that make us lose sleep,” she laments.

The stairs are missing pieces and every time it rains another piece falls off. (14ymedio)

The last one was on September 5th, when a part of the roof fell in the common area of the building. “The firefighters, Government, and Housing, Demolitions & Shelter officials came. They all continued to come all that week, but now, after the moment passed, no one else has come.”

América is concerned that her life will “end in tragedy” because of the poor condition of all the roofs. “That day of the last collapse there had been some five children sitting under the roof that fell. They continue reading

did not get hurt because they had come inside just moments before,” she recalls. “They are always sitting in the common area or on the stairs, which are in very bad condition. The other day I fell when I was going up because there are missing parts and I stumbled, also every time it rains, another piece falls off.”

Prada points out every hole in the ceiling, every beam, the sunken parts of the floor that she never walks over as she opens the door to her apartment. “Inside here they had to write down everything, the ceilings are falling apart, the walls are cracked. I have gone to see the Housing and Shelters and they told us that this building has been listed for demolition since 1972,” she complains. “In the end, it is being demolished by itself with us inside it and they do not come up with a solution,” explains América, who is tired of “going there and returning with no answers at all” to get something that the officials responsible for the area should solve.

The “most difficult part” is at night: she finds it difficult to fall asleep due to fear of a collapse and she has had to find a method with which to feel more secure. “At bedtime I put an armchair over the bed right on top of the pillow and so at least I save my head, which is the most serious thing. Anyway, I hardly sleep at all, fearing that a piece of the roof will fall on me.”

América has never been able to make arrangements on her own because she can barely pay her daily expenses. “I worked for 33 years and my retirement is 1,700 pesos. Now, that is very little, everything is very expensive, I cannot even fix a window here.”

A difficult moment for the residents of 909, known in the neighborhood as “the avenues building,” is when they announce that a hurricane is approaching the Cuban capital. América says that before the imminent arrival of a hurricane, the Government has never evacuated them to safer places and that each one is organized to go to a relative’s house. “Most of the time I go to my sisters’ house. Then I return, always with the fear of arriving and finding some ruins.”

“I have gone to see the Housing and Shelters and they told us that this was for demolition since 1972.” (14ymedio)

The bottle with Prada water has been filled and it is the neighbor’s turn who has waited all this time on the stairs. The woman, who prefers not to identify herself, confesses to this newspaper that though she shares her fear with her roommate at bedtime, she has almost adapted already, nine years after moving in. “At first, if I slept for two hours it was a lot. Now I got used to it a bit, and when dust or pebbles from the ceiling fall on me when I am in bed, I get up all nervous, but I dust off and continue to sleep on the other side.  In terror, but I fall asleep again.”

The woman resists the distant possibility of going to a State shelter. “They have nowhere to put us because there is no capacity, but I prefer a thousand times to be here than to live in a shelter. I don’t like living with people I don’t know. In addition, you lose your privacy and the security of keeping safe the few belongings you have.”

In the midst of all the disaster, a neighbor is painting one of the windows of her apartment green. She carries the paint container in one hand and the brush in the other. She climbs on a chair and retouches the frame while she comments that she lost half of her roof once a brigade sent by the Government arrived, supposedly to repair a part that had collapsed on the outside. She now lives like this: half the house under a roof and the other half, under the sky.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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With Mop Cloths in Short Supply, No Cuban Towel is Safe

Old towels, ripped-up sheets and T-shirts are now being used to clean the floors of Cuban homes. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia Lopez Moya, Havana, November 13, 2021 — Old towels, ripped-up sheets and T-shirts are now being used to clean the floors of Cuban homes. In the absence of mop cloths, which have been missing from store shelves for months, families set aside articles of clothing to use at the bottom end of the traditional mop stick, a stalwart symbol of Cuban house cleaning.

“It seems we’re going backwards in time,” a lady is heard to say on Thursday outside a store selling powdered bleach. The woman, old enough to remember the challenges of the Special Period, recollects how in the 1990s her house had no towels: “They were none for sale and the few we already had we used for cleaning.

“For months it’s been hard to get basic products like food and detergent. But you can’t find mop cloths anywhere. I haven’t even seen them in the hard currency stores,” explains a resident of Havana’s Cerro neighborhood.

Official priced at 15 pesos ($0.62), production relies on imported raw materials, which have been in short supply since late 2019. Officials warned of shortages and in provinces like Villa Clara they explored the possibility of limiting sales to the rationed market. The shortage has caused the price on the informal market to skyrocket, to as much as 150 pesos.

A meme on social media captures the gravity of the situation with a touch of humor characteristic of this medium. “The order has been given to arrest the sweatshirts,” reads the text, echoing the words of President Miguel Diaz-Canel during the July 11 protests. In this case, however, the victims are the towels, shirts and T-shirts destined to be used for cleaning floors.

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Cuba: 15N Begins With an Act of Repudiation in Front of Saily Gonzalez’s House

Act of repudiation in front of the home of Saily Gonzalez. (Screen capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 15 November 2021 – Dawn had barely broken this 15th November in Cuba, the date set for the opposition’s Civic March for Change, when Saily González, a member of the Archipiélago platform — the conveners of the march — faced an act of repudiation already organized at front of the door of her home in Santa Clara.

“Fifty henchmen at the service of the Cuban dictatorship at the door of my house from 5:30 am. I am still firm and with the intention of going out to demonstrate at 3:00 pm,” denounced the activist and former owner of the private Amarillo B&B.

A few hours later, González published a new video in which she is seen hanging out some white sheets at her house while receiving shouts, insults and boos from those who are still stationed in front of the house.

The journalist Mónica Baró has highlighted that along with the people gathered in front of González’s house, the flags of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) can be seen. “This means that the aggressors are in this way identifying themselves as members,” says the reporter, who now resides in Madrid, who then adds that the FMC receives funding from different international agencies of cooperation from countries that promote themselves as human rights defenders, and it also has the backing of agencies of the United Nations.

If these agencies do not speak out immediately, says Baró, “there is no room for doubt: they are participating in the violence.”

From El Vedado, in Havana, Carolina Barrero reports that about 100 people gathered at the ground floor of her building around eight in the morning. “They cut off the internet but I have my cellphone playing Patria y Vida [Homeland and Life] on the balcony,” the curator and art historian continue reading

tells this newspaper, adding that, after shouting slogans, singing the national anthem and playing Silvio Rodríguez songs at full volume, the group went inside the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (Icap). Still in front of her house are “agent Mario” and “agent Darío… They talked about the embargo, about the mercenaries, the same old story,” she says.

Yahima Díaz Barrabes, from Consolación del Sur in Pinar del Río, was barely able to take her son to school. “It was his first day of the year and it was important that he go,” she explains to 14ymedio. “The state security officer who ‘attends’ me made it clear that I couldn’t do anything else, that I couldn’t go anywhere else because I have limited movement.” Díaz also has an “operation” of about 30 people in the vicinity of her home. “Some in front of my house, others on the side, in the background, so they are scattered, this deployment of security is something impressive, as if one were a criminal,” she laments.

This newspaper testifies to surveillance in all corners of Centro Habana, along San Lázaro, Galiano and Boulevard San Rafael, by both uniformed and plainclothes agents

In a first tour, this newspaper testifies to surveillance in all corners of Centro Habana, along San Lázaro, Galiano and Boulevard San Rafael, both by uniformed men and by plainclothes agents. In Galiano, the authorities installed platforms, presumably to offer performances. San Rafael cannot be accessed without showing an identity card. Also striking is the presence of officers guarding the lines in front of shops this Monday.

Santiago also woke up to at least a couple of police officers on every corner, according to 14ymedio’s correspondent in the eastern capital. On Avenida de las Américas, one of the main arteries of the city, in front of each bus stop there are a couple of agents. In the main intersections of the city there are also patrol cars and caballitos, police officers on motorcycles.

There are also Black Berets in Ferreiro Park and Garzón Avenue and, in addition, plainclothes agents in the main parks of the city that do not go unnoticed, since they are ‘in uniform’ on this day with a red T-shirt, a symbol from officialdom in opposition to the white clothes that the opposition has identified with the protests.

White flowers, also a symbol of the Civic March, were on sale as normal in state establishments, and also on an itinerant basis by women who offered them in plastic buckets.

For this Monday, demonstrations are expected to be called in several Cuban provinces starting at 3:00 in the afternoon, although the Government has already warned that the marches are prohibited and has threatened to arrest those who try to join, in addition to mobilizing its followers to try to defuse the protest.

At the request Josep Borrel, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the diplomats of the European Union will be reporting what is happening today in Cuba and the United Nations is also monitoring the situation. The United States has warned of more sanctions on the Havana regime if it does not allow protesters to march and represses them with violence, although these measures are not expected to work as a deterrent to the government.
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