It was two years ago today when a massive uprising spread across Cuba like wildfire. Peaceful protests sprung up spontaneously in dozens of cities, as the Cuban people recognized the opportunity to finally rid themselves of the yoke of tyranny may have finally arrived. Unfortunately, that would not be the case. Within a couple of days, the Castro dictatorship had crushed the rebellion against oppression in its typical brutal repression.
Over the next few days after the uprising began, peaceful protesters were rounded up by the communist Cuban regime by the hundreds. Hundreds of them still remain in prison, including 35 children.
Via Martí Noticias (my tanslation):
A total of 35 minors who participated in the July 2021 protests are still serving prison sentences in Cuban prisons, most of them in Havana.
They were accused of vandalism and acting “with the deliberate purpose of subverting the constitutional order of the socialist state.”
Just hours before the 2nd anniversary of the historic protests, the mothers of three of the imprisoned boys gave Martí Noticias their opinions of how Cuban authorities issued excessive sanctions against the protesters.
“They have to realize that no one committed a crime there (in the protests), everyone just wants change, and that’s what they asked for. The situation is getting worse every day,” said Yudinela Castro, mother of Rowland Castillo, who is serving a 5-year prison sentence for the crime of sedition.
The cruelty and brutality of the communist Castro dictatorship on and since July 11, 2021, especially against innocent children, is designed to show Cubans what can happen to them and their children if they openly oppose the regime. It is part of an island-wide campaign of terror and repression that Cubans have suffered through since 1959. In communist Cuba, protesting against the dictatorship will not only land you in the gulag, but your children as well.
Since 2021, the Cuban the people have been openly demanding “Patria y Vida” (Homeland and Life). In response, the Castro regime offers the only thing it has offered since coming into power: “Patria o Muerte” (Homeland or Death). And the world, as it has done for 64 years, abandons the Cuban people and left them to fend for themselves.