Status: 11/15/2021 10:36 a.m.
In Cuba, government critics have announced mass protests. The Cuban leadership prevented one of the organizers from leaving his home and revoked several journalists’ work permits.
Shortly before the planned new protests against the socialist government in Cuba, a prominent government critic was practically forced into house arrest, according to the opposition.
The playwright Yunior García Aguilera was prevented by plainclothes policemen on Sunday from marching through the capital Havana alone with a white rose, according to a statement from the “Plataforma Archipielago” alliance. In addition, his window was draped with a Cuban flag, as can be seen in photos. He is involved in the call for the protests.
The protest rallies, to which “Plataforma Archipielago” has called, are to take place in Havana and other cities on the Caribbean island, despite a ban.
Cuba stops an agency from working
At the weekend, the government withdrew their accreditation from all correspondents for the Spanish news agency Efe in Cuba. An editor and a cameraman got their accreditations back after negotiations. Efe director Gabriela Cañas asked the Cuban government to return all five employees of their work permits. “The agency Efe is an objective and responsible medium that has been reporting on the island for more than 40 years and does not understand the reasons for this action,” she was quoted as saying by Europa Press.
According to the organization for freedom of the press “Article 19”, security forces also prevented several media workers from leaving their homes.
It is the first time that the work of an entire news agency has been blocked on the Caribbean island, wrote the Efe office manager in Havana, Atahualpa Amerise, on Twitter. The agency published an interview with Yunior García a few days ago.
EU demands declaration from Cuba
The crackdown on ivy provoked international criticism. The spokeswoman for the EU foreign affairs commissioner Josep Borrel, Nabila Massrali, said they were demanding an explanation from the Cuban authorities. Brian A. Nichols of the US State Department sees the procedure as another method by which the Cuban regime is undermining freedom of information.
Despite international criticism, the Cuban government is sticking to the ban on demonstrations. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said they would not allow “subversive US-funded marches”.
On July 11th, the largest mass protests in decades spontaneously broke out in Cuba. There have been hundreds of arrests.