Fear of repression by the communist regime overcame the nascent culture of protest in Cuba

The November 15 opposition march in Cuba was thwarted by fear of possible repression by the communist regime that controls the country for more than 62 years, which blocked many activists from their homes. But, according to dissidents, it is also due to the young culture of protest on the island.

Manuel Cuesta Morúa, a 58-year-old veteran moderate-line opponent, left his home in Havana on Monday to join the march, but did not get far. He was immediately detained by police officers who were already waiting for him.

Released early Tuesday morning, Cuesta Morúa estimates that there was “some improvisationIn planning.

“For the difficult, dangerous and uncontrollable“Which is a peaceful demonstration”in the face of the concentrated power of violence in the State”, The organization demanded“more strategic planning”Said this opponent.

Massive demonstrations against the government “They are only four months old in Cuba, from that childhood it was not possible to storm heaven“, lament Cuesta Morúa.

The call by the Archipelago political debate group to demand the release of political prisoners, arose after the historic demonstrations on July 11, shouting “Liberty” and “We are hungry”, Which left one dead, dozens injured and 1,270 detained, of which 612 are still in prison, according to the NGO Cubalex.

This mobilization was driven by a new generation of Cuban dissidents who have used the mobile internet, enabled on the island only in 2018.

“Stop the matter”

The call since September for this march did not have the surprise effect of July 11, when COVID-19 infections were also at their worst, amid the serious shortage of food and medicine in the country.

Then “everything contributed to the demonstrations, including spontaneity”, Estimated the ex-Cuban diplomat Carlos Alzugaray.

The advance announcement resulted in “at least 100 arbitrary arrests and 131 people prevented from leaving their homes by the police“, With demonstrations of” repudiation “by government supporters against dissidents, according to the opposition platform Cuba Decide.

The leader of the Archipelago, the playwright Yunior Garcia, 39, lost communication since Sunday afternoon, after being prevented from making a solo march down a major Havana avenue.

Under an unusual grayish sky, the streets of Havana woke up on Monday with a strong deployment of uniformed and plainclothes police, stationed along the emblematic coastal boardwalk and in squares and parks of the city.

“No one left to march” because there “fear and repression“, said Adrian Fonseca, smoking in front of her beauty salon, in the Vedado neighborhood.

This 33-year-old hairdresser considers that the sentences of up to 30 years requested by prosecutors against protesters still detained on July 11 also “they put a stop to the matter “.

Karla Amanda, a 22-year-old educator, says that the young people do not identify with the Archipelago.

“I also want changes, because I am young and I want something new, something good for my country ”, but they “They are not giving any solution nor do they have support”, He says.

“Ideological entrenchment”

For the government, which banned the demonstration and threatened the organizers with criminal sanctions, it was a day “festive“And the march was a”failed operation”.

“It has been a happy day, a holiday of well-deserved celebration”Said Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, referring to the return of children to school and the return of international tourism, given the opening of the borders.

For the dissent, Monday’s day was also one of victory.

“The 15N was not at all frustrated. Quite the opposite“, said Saily González, coordinator of the Archipelago and victim of an act of repudiation by more than 70 people in front of her home in the central city of Santa Clara.

He evidenced what happens to “those who dissent from the political system that embraces the dictatorship”González said. “The claim for freedom was individualized. The people who left did so in an individual act demanding their rights, showing that in Cuba there are people who disagree and who oppose the regime ”.

For Costs, “it was a superb success”Because it attracted national and international attention.

The Cuban political scientist Harold Cardenas He says there is social discontent due to the severe crisis caused by COVID-19 and the tightening of the United States embargo against the island, as well as by “the lack of government interest in an agenda of economic and political changes”.

Although this discomfort could be reversed with a “economic improvement and signs of minimal democratic commitment“, but the “signals coming from the Palace of the Revolution seem to revel more in revolutionary symbolism and ideological entrenchment”.