“We want Mayelín!” shouted the protesters who also banged on pots and pans for the woman
14ymedio, Havana, 7 March 2025 — Hundreds of residents demanded freedom for Mayelín Carrasco Álvarez on Friday in the streets of Guamo, a town in Río Cauto, in Granma province. “We want Mayelín!” shouted the protesters who also banged on pots and pans for the mother of three children who was arrested this week after denouncing the hunger and state neglect that the area is experiencing.
Carrasco Álvarez, 47, climbed onto the platform in Plaza de Río Cauto last Wednesday and shouted her complaints from there. “Where is the Revolution?” she asked, adding that “There is no Revolution because everything has fallen,” according to a video released by the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, José Daniel Ferrer. Shortly afterward, two men interrupted the protest and forcibly took the woman away. Since then, her family has reported that she has been incommunicado and that they have not been able to see her.
Witnesses to the protest shouted “Let her go!” “Shameless!” “Let her speak!” and other phrases of support. Ferrer explained on his social networks that Carrasco Álvarez had also previously publicly protested against hunger.
This Friday, the citizen demonstration also attracted a strong police operation. “Recent videos show patrol cars heading to the protest site, with the apparent intention of repressing the peaceful demonstration,” the organization Justicia 11J warned on its X account. “We call on the international community, human rights organizations and civil society to remain attentive to the situation in Guamo Viejo, Río Cauto.”
#ProtestasCuba👉🏼👉🏼 Vecinos de Río Cauto exigen en las calles la liberación de una madre arrestada por denunciar el hambre https://t.co/Buf8APCdWz pic.twitter.com/4zL85u6aNr
— 14ymedio (@14ymedio) March 7, 2025
The organization also urged the Cuban regime to respect “the right to peaceful protest and to immediately release Mayelín Carrasco Álvarez, who has been arbitrarily detained for exercising her freedom of expression.”
In another video posted on social media, police are seen blocking the way of dozens of people trying to join the protest. Several uniformed officers line up to prevent them from passing, but several residents of the town are heard saying “Let’s go along the (train) line!” in the direction of the area where the protesters are gathering.
The repression of popular protests has been a constant in Cuba in recent years, especially after the historic Island-wide demonstrations of 11 July 2021. Protests and barricades closing streets and avenues have also been frequent due to the deterioration in the quality of life, long blackouts, social insecurity and inflation.
In March of last year, thousands of people from Santiago took to the streets shouting “electricity and food,” “freedom,” “patria y vida” [homeland and life] and “we are hungry,” after several days of long blackouts and weeks of delays in the distribution of basic food products.
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