Havana Cuba. — Several opposition organizations called for a concentration and peaceful protest in front of the eastern Havana boardwalk May 20thmaintaining for the third consecutive year the initiative to march against the regime on Republic Day.
The first of these calls was launched in 2021 by the Cuban Unity Table (MUC), an opposition organization based in Spain that, at that time, had the support of other independent groups and activists on the island.
Agustín Valentín López Canino, political activist and blogger who leads the Cubans Inside and Below movement, is one of the figures who, from social networks and other cyberspace platforms, promote the call for peaceful protest.
In interview for CubaNet, López Canino explained that the call “is addressed to all Cubans who have something to claim from the dictatorship. We want to provide the people with a space where they can demand their rights. Especially, the release of political prisoners.
The appointment is from 10:00 in the morning in the entire boardwalk area, without specifying access points or in which direction attendees should march. “They can come down any street and parade freely, always with respect and without provocations —to the government—, to avoid any kind of repression,” he said.
With the aim of safeguarding the safety of the promoters, the activist and blogger points out that, as in previous years, it is fuenteovejuna who calls to protest, alluding to the play by the Spanish playwright Félix Lope Vega, which narrates the dramas of the people’s struggle against their rulers.
“Must be fuenteovejuna who summons: the people”, he sentenced.
Taking into account previous experiences, political activist and independent journalist Alexis Pérez Lescailles doubts that the regime will allow a peaceful protest.
“They are not going to leave us, it is as much as possible. And that will be a success. We are going to show once again that this country is governed by a gang of thugs who do not allow people to express themselves, let alone claim their rights,” she commented.
For her part, Niurka Caridad Ortega Cruz, a member of Cuba Independiente Democrática (CID) and also an independent librarian, referred to Cuban mothers who suffer countless vicissitudes to get milk, food and other products and basic items that their children need.
“While the sons of ordinary Cuban women have jobs, the leaders of the regime have their own as kings. No one has more morals to claim than a mother who sees her children go hungry, so it is important that they do not miss. They just have to go, and march with their arms down, that’s enough,” the opposition member concluded.
