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Planned protests in Cuba have been canceled amid police expansion and confinement Protest News

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The last round of opposition planned in Cuba has not taken place, the island’s capital has been flooded by police and several prominent organizers have reported that they are confined to their homes.

In the middle of a long month government repression against dissent, friends and relatives said several more opposition people were arrested on Monday when organizers called on citizens to take to the streets to protest against the government and demand the release of political prisoners jailed after protests in July.

Among those arrested were Manuel Cuesta Morua, 58, and Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White rights movement, and her husband Angel Moya, a former political prisoner.

Another critic of the government was Guillermo Farinas he was arrested on Friday.

Filmmaker Raul Prado said many organizers were “suffering the consequences” of publicly expressing a willingness to demonstrate.

“Demonstration is a civil right. In the situation we are in and with the tools we have, everyone has that right, ”he told the Associated Press news agency on Monday.

Among those taken was also the playwright Yunior Garcia, who initially called for demonstrations with the Archipelago group, a network discussion forum with 35,000 members.

Garcia attempted a solo protest march on Sunday, but government supporters prevented him from leaving his apartment building, and even hung Cuban flags on the roof of his building to prevent him from communicating with anyone outside by darkening the windows.

On Monday the flags were still there and there was a guard at the door.

Meanwhile, activist Saily Gonzalez, who is the moderator of the Archipelago forum, uploaded a live broadcast in white – a color that sought to express opposition to the government – while supporters of the government shouted revolutionary slogans in red and insulted his home. Santa Clara.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel said last week that his supporters were “ready to defend the revolution” “in the face of an imperial strategy.” [of the US] to try to destroy the revolution ”.

‘Wave of repression’

As the start time of the scheduled rally was 15:00 (20:00 GMT), a large number of police officers took to the streets of Havana.

Along the city’s seafront esplanade, armed police in uniform gathered in almost every corner, and others in civilian clothes guarded the squares and parks.

While some citizens dressed in white posted their images on the street, people ignored the call of the organizers.

Opposition leaders hoped the planned rallies, which were banned by the government, would be similar. own demonstrations, driven by economic hardship and a desire for greater civil liberties, erupted in the country in July. They had been in Cuba for decades without such protests.

Yunior Garcia, a playwright and one of the organizers of a protest march, is standing next to a sign in Spanish that reads “My house is locked”. [Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo]

At least one person was killed, dozens injured and 1,270 arrested in the July riots.

Four months after the demonstrations, more than 650 people remain in prison, according to Cubalex rights groups.

In an open letter released on Sunday, dozens of Cuban and foreign NGOs denounced the “increased wave of repression against the organizers of the protest and the citizens who identify with the movement”.

According to Cuban independent media, the prosecutor has demanded 30-year sentences for some protesters arrested in July.

‘Pure operation’

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez on Monday ridiculed what he called a “failed operation” – Communist government repeatedly accused The use of the demonstration by the US and other foreign actors to destabilize Cuba.

“Apparently, some of my colleagues in Washington dressed up for nothing, for the party that wasn’t done,” he said in a video posted on Facebook, “because the script wasn’t good and the staging was even worse.”

For his part, Washington condemned the government’s crackdown, saying it had thwarted the protest.

“Ahead of today’s planned peaceful demonstrations, the Cuban regime imposed harsh prison sentences, occasional arrests, intimidation tactics and acts of rejection, all while trying to silence the voice of the Cuban people as they demand change.” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in the appearance made.

The administration of President Joe Biden vowed to reunite with Cuba, against which Washington has imposed a decade-long trade embargo that observers say has economically destroyed the population.

However, the administration has so far abandoned this commitment amid protests.



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