THAT AND THAT IS NEXT.. >> THOSE VOICES STILL RING IN OUR EARS, ALL THOSE CUBANS ON
THE STREETS IN HAVANA AND ALL
ACROSS THE ISLAND ONE YEAR AGO.
THEY TOOK TO THE STREET
DEMANDING LIBERTAD AND BASIC
HUMAN RIGHTS AND IT WAS SPARKED
BY YEARS OF REPRESSION AND
SEVERE SUPPLY SHORTAGES.
WHAT SOME SAW AS THE POSSIBLE
BEGINNING OF CHANGE IN CUBA DID
NOT MATERIALIZE.
WITH THE GOVERNMENT CRACKDOWN
HARSHLY, MADE ARRESTS AND
SPURRED A GROWING EXODUS OF
CUBANS.
>> THIS WEEKEND THE BIDEN
ADMINISTRATION IMPOSED VICEA
RESTRICTIONS ON 28 CUBAN
OFFICIALS IDENTIFIED AS
PARTICIPATING IN THE CRACKDOWN
ON THOSE PROTESTORS.
LOCALLY EXILE GROUPS ARE
PLANNING EVENTS TO MARK THAT DAY
TOMORROW.
SALAMA GARCIA IS A LEADER OF THE
GROUP THAT MONITORED THAT
CRACKSDOWN, IN ENGLISH HER GROUP
IS KNOWN AS THE JULY 119
JUSTICE.
IT IS GREAT TO HAVE YOU WITH US
THIS AFTERNOON.
>> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE
INVITATION.
>> WE ARE SO GLAD THAT YOU ARE
HERE.
WE KNOW THAT YOU HAVE BEEN
MONITORING, TRACKING THE
CRACKDOWN WHICH WAS JUST BRUTAL
AND HARSH IN CUBA.
I MEAN AND JUST TWO WEEKS AGO,
JUST TO CITE ONE INSTANCE THE
COMPOSER OF THE FAMOUS SONG,
KIND OF AN ANTHEM, HE WAS
SENTENCED TO NINE YEARS IN
PRISON.
>> YES, HE WAS SENTENCED AND AS
WELL AS HE-- HE WAS, HE IS THE
LEADER OF-- AND RIGHT NOW IS HE
IN HIS 7th DAY OF A HUNGER
AND THRIRS STRIKE PROTESTING HIS
CONVICTION.
HE’S ONE OF THE FEW ACTIVISTS
WERE DETAINED.
HE DIDN’T EVEN GET TO
PARTICIPATE IN THE PROTESTS.
WHAT OUR MONITORING TELL US IS
OVER 90 PEOPLE WHO WERE DETAINED
FROM OVER 1500 WERE NOT PART OF
ANY OPPOSITION GROUP, WERE NOT
ACTIVISTS, WERE NOT INDEPENDENT
THREATS SO MOST PEOPLE DETAINED
WERE JUST COMMON PEOPLE WHO HAD
NEVER PARTICIPATED IN POLITICS.
A LOT OF THEM WERE SELF-EMPLOYED
BY SOME OF THEM WERE ALSO
ARTISTS, STUDENTS OR EVEN STATE
WORKERS NURSES, TEACHERS, YOU
KNOW, REALLY COMMON PEOPLE, AS
WELL AS THE ACTIVISTS WHO WERE
ARRESTED WITHOUT EVEN GETTING TO
THE PROTESTS, HE HASN’T BEEN
ALLOWED TO COMMUNICATE WITH HIS
FAMILY.
THIS HAS BEEN THE SITUATION,
THIS IS ONE OF THE FORMS OF
TORTURE WE HAVE NOW,
MISTREATMENTS INSIDE PRISONS,
PEOPLE ARE ISOLATED OR PANNISHED
BEING IN SOLIDARITY.
>> SO I THINK FOR ANYONE WHO MAY
NOT BE A CUBA WATCHER, IT SEEMS
LIKE ON FACE VALUE NOTHING HAS
CHANGED AND YET A YEAR AGO
TOMORROW WE WATCH THESE
SPONTANEOUS GRASSROOTS
SURPRISING PROTESTS POP UP ALL
OVER, FUELED BY SOCIAL MEDIA
WHICH IS A GAME CHANGER IN A
CLOSED SOCIETY AND SO REALLY THE
EXPECTATION THAT THIS WOULD BE
THE BEGINNING OF CHANGE, DOESN’T
SEEM TO HAVE COME TO FREUICIAN.
WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THAT?
>> WELL, I JUST THINK THINGS
HAVE CHANGED.
REPRESSION IS WORSE, THEY
ACTUALLY ON THE OVER OF THE
ANNIVERSARY EVEN A WEEK BEFORE
ACT VISES, JOURNALISTS HAVE BEEN
GETTING CITATIONS BY THE PLISES
THEY HAVE BEEN RECEIVING THREATS
OF NOT GOING OUT TO THE
STWREELTS REMEMBER JULY 11th
WAS A SUNDAY, ALSO FAMILIES OF
POLITICAL PRISONER WHO HAVE BEEN
VERY OUTSPOKEN HAVE POLICE WATCH
TODAY OUTSIDE THEIR HOMES, LET’S
REMEMBER THAT EVEN THOUGH MOST,
WE HAVE TO RECOGNIZE THIS, OVER
600 PEOPLE BEING SENTENCED
THROUGHOUT 25 YEARS BY SOME OF
THEM WERE-- TRIALS WITHOUT
DEFENSE AND SENTENCED UP TO ONE
YEAR SO SOME OF THEM HAVE BEEN
RELEASED ALREADY WHICH IS THE
CASE OF-- SHE IS 17 YEARS OLD.
SHE ANNOUNCED SHE RECEIVED
SEXUAL THREATS IN PRISON AND
ANNOUNCED RECENTLY THAT SHE HAS
BEEN GETTING THREATS NOT TO GO
OUT TOMORROW.
SO THE REPRESSION IS HIGHER BUT
THERE HAS BEEN CHANGE.
THERE HAS BEEN AN AWAKENING.
A LOT OF PEOPLE FEEL IN THE
PROCESS, IN THIS REVOLUTION HAVE
BEEN WOKEN UP TO THE REALITY OF
THIS SYSTEMIC REPRESSION BECAUSE
THEY HAVE SEEN SUFFERING IN
THEIR SELVES, IN THEIR OWN
FAMILIES.
THERE ARE A LOT OF FAMILIES
SUFFERING.
THERE ARE OVER 700 PEOPLE IN
PRISON, SO ALL THESE FAMILIES
THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN EXPOSED TO
THIS KIND OF REPRESSION BEFORE
HAVE BEEN SUFFERING IN THE FIRST
PERSON.
WE ALSO KNOW THAT LIKE IT HAS
BEEN TOLD BY THE MEDIA THAT THE
ONLY CAUSE FOR THIS MASSIVE
EXODUS IS THE SCARCITY OF FOOD.
WHICH IS ALSO AN ASSAULT OF THE
STATE.
BUT PEOPLE ARE FLEEING BECAUSE
THEY WANT TO BE FREE.
THEY WANT TO BE ABLE TO EXPRESS
FREELY, DO NOT HAVE POLICE
WATCH, DO NOT HAVE THEIR
HOMES-- DO NOT BE FINED FOR
EXPRESSING THEMSELVES ON SOCIAL
MEDIA.
SO WE ALSO KNOW THAT A GREAT
PART OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN
RELEASED, OVER 40 PEOPLE WHO
HAVE BEEN RELEASED HAVE LEFT THE
COUNTRY AND ALSO WELL-KNOWN
ACTIVISTS, THIS IS ALSO THE CASE
, IN 2020 IN THIS LOCKDOWN
WHERE THEY DID A MASSIVE HUNGER
STRIKE AND TODAY ALSO-- DID IN
FRONT OF THE U.N., A HUNGER AND
THRIRS STRIKE DEMANDING THAT THE
U.N. CON DEM FOR THE VIOLATION
GOING ON FOR DECADES OF NOT
ALLOWING PEOPLE TO GO BACK TO
CUBBA IF THEY WANT TO GO BACK
WITH THE RISK OF GOING TO
PRISON, TO CONTINUE TO PROTEST.
>> AWFULLY GOOD TO SPEAK WITH
YOU, THANK YOU FOR THE WORK ARE
YOU DOING, MONITORING THESE
REPRESSIVE ACTS AGAINST THE
CUBAN PEOPLE AND WE’LL FOLLOW,
SEE WHAT HAPPENS TOMORROW.