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Exiles protest in Little Havana to show solidarity with SOS Cuba dissenters

Discontent continues in communist island with human rights violations, food shortages, power outages

MIAMI – Cuban-American activists met on Thursday in Miami to commemorate the third anniversary of the 2021 demonstrations on the island, as their dissent over a lack of human rights, food shortages, and power outages on the island continues.

After a morning vigil in Miami’s Coconut Grove, a group of activists met for a solidarity protest along Eighth Street, outside of Versailles, a long-time popular meeting place for exiles in Miami’s Little Havana.

Ramón Saúl Sánchez was among the small group of Cuban Americans who met for morning prayer at the Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity, better known as the Ermita de la Caridad, in Miami’s Coconut Grove.

Some held up signs with photos of prisoners. Some wore “This March Would Get Me Killed in Cuba” T-shirts. Some held up sunflowers they said were symbols of resilience because they can grow tall and strong even in adverse conditions.

“The demonstrations were brutally repressed by the regime,” said Ramón Saúl Sánchez, of the Movimiento Democracia, a nonprofit organization based in Miami’s Little Havana.

The SOS Cuba protests on July 11-12, 2021, motivated protesters to march in Hialeah, Little Havana, and even on highways in Miami-Dade County. Three years later, some of those who dared to participate in the dissent in Cuba were behind bars.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez has acknowledged the food shortages and power outages. Since the July 11 protests, there were other protests in Havana on Sept. 30, 2022, and Oct. 1, 2022; in Caimanera on May 6, 2023, and Santiago de Cuba on March 17-18.

The Cuban American Bar Association filed a petition on Nov. 17, 2021, with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of the Cubans who were detained or imprisoned for protesting in Cuba. As of Thursday, they were representing 52 dissidents.

Earlier this week, Amnesty International urged Cuban authorities to free Pedro Albert Sánchez, José Daniel Ferrer García, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Maykel Osorbo, Loreto Hernández García, and Donaida Pérez Paseiro.

Amnesty International also denounced alleged human rights violations suffered by Mayelín Rodríguez Prado, Wilber Aguilar Bravo, Gorki Águila, Yuri Valle Roca, Alina Bárbara López, and Jenny Pantoja.

FILE - Yunior Garcia Aguilera, a playwright and one of the organizers of a protest march set for Monday, poses for a photo during an interview with The Associated Press at his home in Havana, Cuba, Nov 12, 2021. A spokesman for Spain's government says that leading Cuban activist Yunior Garcia has on Wednesday, Nov. 17 flown to Madrid with his wife. His departure from Cuba was unannounced. Garcia was one of the organizers of a protest on Monday in Cuba that was suppressed by government supporters. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, file) (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Earlier this year, Diaz-Canel blamed the protests on “terrorists” and “enemies of the Revolution” in the United States and wrote on X that “several people” had “expressed their dissatisfaction with the situation of electrical service and food distribution.”

Diaz-Canel added, “The disposition of the authorities of the Party, the State, and the Government is to attend to the complaints of our people, listen, dialogue, explain the numerous efforts that are being carried out to improve the situation, always in an atmosphere of tranquility and peace.”

In November, Ardenys Garcia allegedly used a jetski to deliver guns, ammunition, and military gear to Cuba in a plot that Cuban authorities claimed involved 32 Cuban residents and members of the New Cuban Nation In Arms, or La Nueva Nación Cubana En Armas.

Plainclothes police detain an anti-government protester during a demonstration over high prices, food shortages and power outages, while some people also called for a change in the government, in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, July 11, 2021. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel for the first time is offering some self-criticism while saying that government shortcomings in handling shortages and other problems played a role in this week’s protests. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Willy González, the leader of the group in Orlando, told Telemundo he did not know Garcia, and was not aware of such an operation in Cuba. At the United Nations, Cuban diplomats alleged otherwise to protest how the U.S. accused the regime of supporting terrorism.

Meanwhile, U.S. diplomats demand that Cuban officials respect human rights. And the U.S. military deployed more resources to Guantanamo Bay after the Cuban military welcomed the Russian military’s ships to Havana.

“We urge the Cuban government to respect the human rights of the protesters and address the legitimate needs of the Cuban people,” a representative of the U.S. embassy in Havana wrote on X.

Local 10 News Archives: Protests in Miami


About the Authors
Janine Stanwood headshot

Janine Stanwood joined Local 10 News in February 2004 as an assignment editor. She is now a general assignment reporter. Before moving to South Florida from her Washington home, Janine was the senior legislative correspondent for a United States senator on Capitol Hill.

Andrea Torres headshot

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.

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