14ymedio, Havana, 19 October 2021 — The Archipiélago collective has drawn up a list of instructions for those who want to join the Civic March for Change that it has been called for this coming November 15, a march that the authorities have refused to authorize.
The demonstration will run through the areas indicated by the organizers in each province between 3:00 and 6:00 in the afternoon and, as security measures, Archipiélago recommends going out in groups wearing white clothes, with flags of the same color stored in backpacks to avoid being arrested before to reach the designated exit area. In case of not arriving, the organizers call onpeople to protest in nearby parks or areas.
The group invites people to document the development of the demonstration, although there are precedents of cuts in the connection needed to avoid live broadcasts.
“If there are episodes of repression by the forces of order, never respond with violent attitudes, raise your hands and recite the poem ’I Cultivate a White Rose’ by José Martí,” says the organizing group, which insists on the rejection of any violent act, poster or symbol. “Let us be citizens and no authoritarianism will violate our rights.”
Along the same lines, Archipiélago asks for respectful and peaceful expressions to demand the changes, to observe a moment of silence “as a sign of the pain that Cuba has lived, through decades of authoritarianism and the absence of democratic spaces,” to have a gesture for the release of prisoners of conscience and leave a flower on a bust of José Martí.
The organizers also recommend that family and friends be informed of the situation, as well as ending with some collective expression of joy that invites reconciliation and hope.
“In the event of an episode of violence, keep calm and try to dialogue with the alarmed person. Any violent attitude moves away from the spirit of the Civic March for Change, since we must always respond to authoritarianism with civility,” closes the statement, released through the collective’s Facebook page.
Faced with this, officialdom continues to try to curb support for the marches. This Monday, a statement by the Cuban Workers’ Central rejects “the most recent maneuvers orchestrated by ’internal political operators, led and encouraged from abroad,’ which ’announce the intention to carry out a march that they have presented as peaceful and lawful, invoking the Constitution’.”
Hours before, Archipiélago had released a video in which several activists from Havana, Cienfuegos, Santa Clara and Holguín emphasized that the march has no external economic support and that it only seeks the release of the detainees of the July 11 anti-government protests and political prisoners in general, in addition to demanding political changes through democratic and peaceful means and in favor of the sovereignty of Cuba.
“Far from what is said in the official propaganda against the Archipiélago, this group does not receive or will never receive money from a foreign power or support any invasion. We do not want foreign interference, we Cubans are capable of generating ideas to be able to live in a democratic and sovereign country.”
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