Spain’s Foreign Minister Supports Freedom in Cuba and Receives Yunior Garcia

Image of the meeting between Minister José Manuel Albares and Yunior García. (Twitter / @ jmalbares)

14ymedio biggerEFE/14ymedio, Madrid, 20 November 2021 — Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, expressed his support for freedom of expression and demonstration in Cuba this Friday after the Spanish Government facilitated the departure of Yunior García, one of the promoters of the Civic March that calls for a political change in the country.Albares explained to the Joint Commission of the European Union that Yunior García, with whom he had a meeting, received a visa from the consulate in Havana that was processed “normally.” It is, according to the Executive, a short-term tourist visa with limited territorial validity.

In his meeting with García, the minister told the activist of Spain’s commitment to freedom, as noted on Twitter .

In commission and in the face of criticism from Vox, which accuses the Government of “lukewarmness” and of siding with the “Castro dictatorship”, Albares has defended that he has spoken “very clearly” about Cuba: “Freedom of expression, freedom of demonstration and return of credentials to Efe journalists,” he said.

The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, also expressed this Friday the government’s concern about the situation in Cuba and pointed out that its objective is to help the well-being of Cubans and to guarantee their rights. That is why the ’documentation’ for García’s arrival in Madrid was facilitated.

Yunior García is the promoter of the Civic March of November 15 against the Cuban Government and, after his arrival in Spain, he has demanded an end to the romantic idea about a country that “is a dictatorship” and where the relationship of the Government with its people has become a “failed marriage.”

In a recent interview, the coordinator of the Archipiélago platform said that his departure from the island has been “celebrated as a victory for” the Cuban government, but what they really won was “the terror that they have implanted. You have to wonder how long can win that terror.”

The activist said that he went to the Spanish Embassy “to request a visa” in expectation of being arrested, 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.”

García Aguilera warned 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 they were 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.”

The 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 are not allowed to leave their home, who are without internet, who cannot speak.”

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