Ramón Saúl Sánchez was 12 years old when his family in Cuba sent him to the United States, and he was 15 when he joined a Miami-based paramilitary organization formed by Cuban exiles to fight Communism, and he went on to engage in decades of non-violent resistance.

James Martin was among the Cuban American protesters on Monday in Miami’s Little Havana. He held a Cuban flag and shouted, “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” His frustration has been growing.

A Miami nonprofit organization is trying to help some of the Cubans who continue to be arrested for demonstrating against an ongoing crisis on the communist-run island. Cubans are facing shortages of food and medicines, power outages, COVID deaths, and repression.

Cuban officials responded with a few songs of their own. The other two — Maykel “El Osorbo” Castillo, and El Funky de Cuba — are members of Havana’s The San Isidro Movement. Chancleta Records, of Coral Gables, released the song “Patria y Vida,” Spanish for “Homeland and Life,” on Feb. 16. Sánchez said he felt a strong connection to the “Patria y Vida” song. AdAs of Wednesday, the “Patria y Vida” song had millions of plays on YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud, and other music-sharing platforms.