The standoff between Cuba’s communist-run government and young activists that have been calling for a peaceful march for Nov. 15 calling for change began Sunday.
The home of Yunior García, an artist who has emerged as one of the country’s leading activists calling for island-wide protests Monday, has been surrounded by state security since early Sunday. Foreign credentialed media was kept several hundred feet away.
García, a 39-year-old artist and playwright, had said he would march alone, dressed in white and holding a white rose at 3 p.m. on Sunday to represent those who wouldn’t be able to Monday, but he was prevented from doing so. Instead, he showed the white rose, a symbol of peace, out his window.
Outside García’s building, pro-government Cubans were gathered since the morning shouting pro-Fidel Castro chants with music and dancing, scenes which were tweeted by activists. They also hung a giant Cuban flag over a portion of the building García lives in, partially blocking his window. He also put out a sign outside his house, that said, “Mi casa está bloqueada,” (“my house is blocked).
In Miami, home to the largest concentration of Cubans who have fled the island, a car caravan and march was held Sunday in support of those on the island. Solidarity rallies are planned in cities around the world Monday.
García said in a Facebook live Sunday that it is his “human and constitutional right to walk as a free citizen on a street, carrying a white rose. But apparently not even that are they willing to allow.”
“We are living very ugly days in Cuba. Unfortunately, we are returning to the worst times,” said García, adding he saw from his window credentialed journalists being expelled from outside his building. “In the last few years we have seen how the violence increases, how the language of hate increases, how the discrimination increases, and how that ideological apartheid increases.”
He said Cuba is a “tyranny” and called on Cubans to civically and peacefully put aside all the hate and learn to conquer a country that really “belongs to all of us without excluding anyone.”
Some Cubans heeded García’s to clap at 3pm “for us” and “for the people of Cuba” and several of those who did shared it on social media.
Following historic anti-government protests on July 11, García launched a Facebook group for political debate called Archipelago. They have called Monday the “Civic March for Change.”
State-run television has dedicated programming to García in recent weeks, accusing him of being financed by the U.S. The government banned Monday’s march and has been incessantly accusing the United States of attempting to destabilize the country.
The State Department released a statement Sunday calling on Cuba’s government to respect Cubans’ rights and urging it to “reject violence, and instead, embrace this historic opportunity to listen to the voices of their people.”
Late Saturday authorities revoked the press credentials of 5 journalists working for Spain’s news agency EFE. The European Union asked Cuban authorities Sunday for “clarifications,” while Spain’s foreign minister summoned Cuba’s top diplomat in Madrid requesting explanations. Cuban authorities returned two of the credentials so far.
The protests have Cuba’s government on high alert.
A Cuban columnist for the Washington Post, Abraham Jiménez, tweeted Sunday that he was informed by state security agents that he was under house arrest as he attempted to throw out the garbage from his home.
Independent journalists throughout the island also reported being under house arrest Monday.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said they are following the situation in Cuba involving independent press and demanded respect for journalists that “resists censorship and harassment.”
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