Poet Javier L. Mora Arrested After Denouncing the Repression in Cuba on Social Media

Mora is also an essayist and editor of ’Hypermedia Magazine’ and Casa Vacía. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, July 16, 2021 – The poet Javier L. Mora (b. Bayamo, 1983) was arrested this Friday in Holguín after denouncing the repression against protesters in recent days, several of his colleagues confirmed to 14ymedio. The arrest of the writer occurred at his home hours after he made public his resignation from the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac) on social media.

“It is incomprehensible, from any ideological point of view, that Cuban artists (except for a few and honorable exceptions) have remained unfazed by the images of the police outrage, the house arrests, the beatings in the middle of the street by government agents who, with or without a uniform, smashed with sticks, shots and cruel beatings not only the marches and demonstrations of July 11, 12 and 13: they also trampled, right under their noses, the Constitution itself,” the essayist and editor of Hypermedia Magazine and Casa Vacía had published.

Mora argued that the country’s rulers “sneered at Articles 54 (Freedom of Expression) and 56 (Freedom of Demonstration) of the much vaunted Constitution. Today they continue laughing at Article 49 (Inviolable Domicile) when they go out to search for protesters as if they were hunting rabbits.”

In his manifesto the poet asked: “How is it possible that they continue in their impious silence in the face of the violence unleashed by the Cuban State to repress its own people? How is it possible that they remain silent in the face of the incitement to hatred among Cubans provoked by Díaz-Canel’s call to take to the streets, ’the combat order is given’?”

Mora also questioned the lies of Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez in his appearance last Tuesday before the international press on the suppression of the internet and the police outrage. He also criticized Díaz-Canel for continuing in his position “after a huge mass of people came out to shout at him that they don’t want him there.”

Following the recent protests throughout the island, several creative artists resigned as members of artistic organizations recognized by the regime. One of them was the playwright Yunior García Aguilera, who was arrested last Sunday.

“I cannot remain in a choir that sings praises to those who ordered repression against the youth and combat between Cubans. I cannot be part of a group of artists and intellectuals who have preferred silence or complicity,” García wrote in his Facebook profile, publicly announcing that he was no longer a member of Uneac.

So far, there are no official figures for injuries, deaths, and arrests from the protests. The government has only recognized the death of a 36-year-old man who participated in a protest on Monday in the slum neighborhood of La Güinera, in Havana. Civil society organizations have counted about 5,000 arrested or investigated since July 11, including 120 activists and journalists.

Translated by Tomás A.

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