Cuban activist Fernando Almeyda joined this weekend the list of opponents who are leaving the island. After requesting a humanitarian visa from Spain that was not granted, the former coordinator of the Archipelago decided to go to Serbia, a country that currently does not require a visa. for Cubans, although their intention does not seem to be to remain in the Balkan country, according to from an interview published by Cubanet this Monday.
Almeyda, who participated in the protests on July 11 and later joined the Archipiélago collective – who abandoned after Cuba’s abrupt departure from Yunior Garcia Aguilera–, argues that he never had any real intention of developing his professional career on the Island and since he graduated as a lawyer he wanted to go into exile so as not to be part of the system. The activist points out that his job position led him to lack money, which at the same time delayed his departure.
His final departure is taking place now, because, he says, he has been suffering from repression, harassment, persecution and threats from State Security for months. “I was very afraid, excruciatingly afraid, and I even tried to find a way to flee and apply for asylum, but always after 15N, never before,” he explains. What happened with the Civic March for Change and the arrests that took place led him to streamline his procedures and start applying for a humanitarian visa to Spain in December, a document that is granted only in cases of emergency and that was denied.
Almeyda decided to travel to Europe, with a flight to Belgrade, where he does not plan to ask for asylum, but temporary residence, which indicates that his intention is to travel to another destination, probably Spain.
Almeyda decided to travel to Europe, with a flight to Belgrade, where he does not plan to ask for asylum, but temporary residence, which indicates that his intention is to travel to another destination, probably Spain.
The opponent also explains in the interview how he came to activism through the San Isidro Movement, to which he attributes the ability to break with the classic forms of opposition in Cuba, which until 2018, he says, were things of political parties “sometimes tending towards extremism and opposites. The exile was divorced from the Cuban reality and the Cubans neither knew what was being said or did not care”.
Next, the lawyer recounts the events that followed the police raid at the MSI headquarters, the 27N protest, and the spontaneous demonstrations in July, in which he participated, receiving a stone. At that time, he affirms, he was already in the crosshairs of State Security.
Almeyda maintains that since he took the initiative to leave Cuba he has been in “semi-clandestine”, although he did not hide completely and attended some public activities.
To Almeyda’s departure must be added that of Julio Antonio Fernández Estrada, also a jurist, whose destination was unknown until now. Professor at the University of Havana in 2016, the lawyer was expelled for critical texts of him with power and was currently collaborating with several independent media outlets.
“Today he left Cuba, where he had not been allowed to work for years, a great friend, one of the best people I know and an intellectual who sacrificed his career for his civility. Good luck wherever you go dear Julio Antonio Fernández Estrada. Cuba it does not lose you because it will always be in your thoughts and in your heart”, commented the historian Alina Bárbara López Hernández.
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