Several demonstrators protested this Saturday before the Russian embassies in Madrid and Paris to denounce the possible installation of Russian military bases in Cuba. The demonstration sought to draw attention to the dangers of such an operation amid heightened tensions around the Ukrainian border.
With Cuban flags, the motto “Homeland and Life” on their posters and an image of Vladimir Putin’s face covered with a “stop” sign, those gathered in front of both diplomatic headquarters warned of a possible Russian military deployment on the island. a possibility that Sergei Ryabkov, deputy foreign minister and representative in the recent negotiations with the US in Geneva, did not rule out.
Alberto Guadalupe, president of the French Association for Democracy in Cuba and one of the protesters this Saturday, assured this Saturday that he wanted to tell the Kremlin that, “despite the fact that the Cuban government has not made any statement about its intentions to deploy troops in Cuba and Venezuela” the citizens will “defend Cuban sovereignty, whatever the cost.
In Paris, the demonstrators also recalled the situation of those repressed in Cuba and were summoned by the Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC), which dedicated “a very special thought” to all political prisoners. “We think of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and all those who are on a hunger strike,” Guadalupe added.
For their part, several exiles in Madrid protested in front of the Moscow embassy against the threat of “Russian expansion.” Elena Larrinaga, who coordinates the International Relations of the CTDC, warned that the statements of Russian officials “have been a humiliation for our peoples, but mainly for the respective rulers of these countries.”
Especially since “the lack of response” from Nicolás Maduro and Miguel Díaz-Canel after Moscow’s declarations on Cuba and Venezuela has made it clear that “the sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of our nations are transferred to the government Russian”.
The statement read by Larrinaga in front of the Russian diplomatic headquarters in the Spanish capital was drafted jointly by Cubans residing in Paris and Madrid and was sent to the ambassadors of the Russian Federation in France, Cuba and Spain, in addition to a copy that they sent to the Ukrainian ambassador in Havana.
In an interview following the controversy with Russian television RTVI, Ryabkov said that his government’s response will depend on the action of his “American counterparts”, noting that Putin assured that his country could give the green light to technical-military measures if the United States takes actions to “provoke” Russia and increase military pressure on the country.
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