Before the announced opposition protests, the Cuban government and dissidents wage a “battle of ideas”

A war of words in the media, plagued by spying with double agents, wiretapping and hidden cameras, is being fought in Cuba ahead of the protests scheduled for November 15, which has generated a confrontation between the communist government and a dissident group that claims that its most powerful weapon is the cell phone.

In September, the dissidents requested permission from the authorities to carry out a “Civic March for Change”In mid-November after the July protests on the island. The communist government denied that request last month, arguing that they are covertly working with the United States to overthrow the Castro regime. The protesters plan to carry it out anyway.

Since then, the government has launched a media campaign employing tactics spawned by former communist dictator Fidel Castro, leveraging wide-ranging state security forces to unearth evidence that it says shows dissidents are working with American backing. , a claim denied by the protest leaders.

Cuban historians and observers say that November 15 will mark the first real test of those Cold War-era strategies against a movement that is younger and more Internet-savvy than any before.

“Clearly they’re back to their old playbook”Said Paul Hare, former British ambassador to Cuba during the call “Black spring”In 2003, when Castro decided to put 75 dissidents in prison.

But with more Cubans online than ever, it has become more difficult for the government to dominate the airwaves, Hare said. “They have lost the narrative, the battle of ideas, especially with the young”He added.

The Cuban regime did not respond to a request for comment on this note.

What is at stake in Cuba it’s a lot, said the historian Michael Bustamante, from the University of Miami. The protesters plan to march on the same day that one of the main Caribbean destinations reopens its doors to international tourism after a two-year hiatus during the coronavirus pandemic.

Tourism revenue is vital to the fragile economy of Cuba.

“This is the moment when the Cuban state seeks to turn around what has been a very bad year and here you have this group saying ‘no, we are choosing this specific moment to press for political change,’ “said Bustamante. “I think that explains the intensity of the State’s response”He added.

Spy tools

The call for protests is led by a Facebook group called Archipelago. In a Nov.3 post on the social media platform, the group said it has 31,501 members, most of whom live on the island and are between the ages of 25 and 44.

In a series of prime-time television programs on state channels, the Cuban government has resorted to espionage to question Yunior García, a Cuban playwright, dissident and leader of the Archipelago.

In a television segment aired last week, an oncologist, showing off his white hospital coat, revealed that it was actually “Fernando”, A double agent who for 25 years infiltrated the dissident movement and accompanied García to a workshop to discuss the role of the Cuban military in promoting regime change.

“Yunior (García Aguilera) is seeking confrontation with the Armed Forces and the Minint, we are seeing in him the creation and action of a counterrevolutionary”Fernando said on television.

Reuters was unable to reach “Fernando”, Whose real name is Carlos Leonardo Vazquez, for comment.

In an interview at his home in Havana, dissident leader García told Reuters that he remembers “FernandoAt the workshop, but rejected any suggestion that he was seeking to violently overthrow the government.

And he noted that he has never received US funding. “It is very difficult for the regime to admit that it is deploying all its forces against a group of young people with (cell phones)”, He commented.

“They are afraid of an audience that no longer believes in them and is not afraid to say so on social media”He added.

Garcia added that the Cuban authorities have relied on an old strategy: blaming the United States.

State television also broadcast a phone call that Garcia says was recorded without his knowledge.

In the call, Ramón Saúl Sánchez, a well-known Miami-based exile whom Cuba accuses of being behind a series of terrorist attacks for decades, seems to pledge his support to García and asks him if he should send a flotilla of boats to protest in waters near Cuba. Garcia is reluctant.

Sánchez did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

However, the Cuban communist regime has said that its evidence points to a movement seeking a change in leadership and that has the backing of people abroad.

The argument is precedent. A 1975 US Senate committee report revealed attempts by US spies to kill Fidel Castro using “devices that test the imagination“Including explosive cigars and poisonous pills. In 2009, the United States supported efforts to create a “Cuban Twitter“To provoke riots on the island.

Almost half of the members of the Archipelago reside outside Cuba, according to figures released by the group. About a quarter live in the United States.

The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In late October, a department spokesman said the United States supports the right of Cubans to protest, but that the rallies were not a “demonstration … of the wishes of the United States government ”.

The US government has threatened sanctions amid a wave of arrests following the July 11 protests, believed to be the largest since the revolution in Castro 1959. Cuban authorities say those arrested were guilty of crimes including public disorder, resisting arrest and vandalism.

Many of those who have publicly advocated for the protests say they have been harassed or tipped off by state security and government supporters in an attempt to keep them off the streets next Monday.

It is unclear how many plan to march on November 15, either at home or abroad, or what the response from the government of Cuba.

“I think the question is whether Cuba can put the genius of July 11 back into the bottle or not ”, said Bustamante. “November 15 will be a measure of that.”