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Yunior García, the Cuban artist and playwright who promoted the frustrated demonstration on November 15 in Havana, assured that the protest movement he led would continue without him, now that he is in exile. The 39-year-old activist arrived in Madrid on Wednesday after receiving warnings from Cuban authorities and obtaining a visa from the Spanish government.
“It is not about a person, it is not about an individual. We have to break this vicious circle in Cuba of believing that some messiah has all the answers.” With these words, the Cuban dissident, Yunior García, made it clear that pro-democracy efforts in his home nation must continue, regardless of who leads them on the island.
García added that the movement he has led, Archipelago, would not lose strength and that it would be durable.
His statements were made during a press conference this November 18 from Madrid, where he arrived a day before, after the Cuban government thwarted the march that the artist promoted for November 15.
In Cuba there is something indefensible and everyone should start calling things by their name. Everyone who still has the slightest doubt about how to approach the Cuba issue should see this, @yuniortrebol
pic.twitter.com/c5OJVVins9– Peniley Ramírez (@penileyramirez) November 18, 2021
In the meeting with the media, in which at times he tried to hold back tears, the activist said that he hoped that the police of his country would arrest him or threaten him when he tried to leave Cuba.
But he said he believes the government let him go as a way to silence him and prevent him from becoming too strong a symbol in his homeland. However, he left to give voice to the repressed, he said.
He was finally able to travel as a tourist after a visa obtained with the help of people and organizations in Spain and his country, of which he did not want to give details for possible reprisals.
The ruling party, on social and state networks, has accused García of allegedly working covertly with the United States to overthrow the state. Rejects signals. “I have never received a penny from Washington,” he said.
Yunior García, a representative of the new dissident voices
The playwright, known for his theatrical works and his scripts for television and cinema, and isolated from political slogans, assumed another role after hundreds of artists in Havana demanded greater freedom in November 2020.
Those demonstrations drew thousands of people to the streets to speak out against shortages of basic products, restrictions on civil liberties and the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
They were the largest anti-government protests ever seen in the nation since Fidel Castro’s revolution in 1959.
In a year his name gained relevance and attracted international attention.
Since the Archipelago movement, it has emerged as one of the main voices of the Cuban opposition, in which artists have gained great importance in demanding freedom and democracy. A mission that he trusts will continue and that he hopes to support from exile.
With Reuters and EFE
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