Human Rights
Dozens of Cuban artists and activists send a message to the military: "Join your people!"
Renowned Cuban artists and activists took to social media to urge the military to side with the Cuban people and not repress the protests.
March 18, 2024 5:39pm
Updated: April 1, 2024 9:38am
After protests in several places last Sunday, when hundreds of Cubans took to the streets in the east of the island to demand freedom and complain about the lack of electricity and food shortages, a group of renowned Cuban artists and activists resorted to social networks to urge the military to side with the people and not repress the protests in Cuba.
Among them was the Grammy-winning musician, Yotuel Romero, who was one of the first to join the call to those "military personnel who have not yet stained their hands with blood" not to carry out violence against their people.
The former member of Orishas was joined by the Cuban presenter living in Miami, Carlos Otero: "Lay down your weapons, take the side of the people. Those people that you are ordered to repress are your brothers, they are your family," said the popular television host on a video, where he encouraged the police and the entire military force of the island to "take a step and stand beside their people."
The Cuban singer Albita Rodríguez also made a request to all the Cuban military and police who repress her brothers: “Diaz-Canel does not eat what you eat (…) Do not mistreat those people who are asking for freedom, food, and light, They are asking for a decent life,” he said in a clip he shared with his followers. “You are also a victim,” the composer added to her words.
For his part, the Cuban comedian Andy Vázquez addressed the Cuban police officers saying: “Cuban police, you who are in the streets and they are sending you to oppress your brothers, who have needs, who have a blackout, who are hungry, who Your children do not have milk or food, they do not have the benefit of living with dignity: do not hit your brothers! When they tell you to hit your brothers, tell them: 'I am not going to hit anyone.' People are protesting for the same needs that you have, and you are defending some bad mother's sons who are communists... They are not even communists, they are profiteers of communism, who are enjoying all the pleasures that you do not have. So don't give them beat your brothers.”
In the case of jazz musician Daymé Arocena, who lives in Canada, the artist shared her concern after the latest events in Cuba: "What worries me most about the situation is how brutalized the Cuban police and military force is. To me I can't imagine a soldier who doesn't see his mother, who doesn't see his wife, his sister, his people standing there, asking for a better life, also for him," commented the popular artist. Arocena assured that many of those police officers who are repressing the streets of the island today are not having a good time either and they probably do not have food for their children either.
Cuban activists and influencers such as Ana Olema and Liu Santiesteban also sent a message, who in their networks said they joined the call to the military who do not have blood on their hands, referring to those "good-hearted Cuban soldiers who can still be Heroes of Our Homeland, who lay down their weapons against the people, and use them against the tyrant. Military, make Cuba look at you proudly!" Olema exhorted.
Liu, for his part, assured that Cubans who are outside the country are not terrorists for asking for freedom, "the terrorists are those of the Communist Party." The businesswoman also asked the military not to "raise their hands against the hungry and oppressed people, who are asking for change."
Likewise, Cuban filmmaker Lilo Vilaplana, director of the film Plantadas, shared a video exclusively for ADN Cuba with his feelings about the latest events in the oppressed nation: "What is happening in Cuba deserves international attention. There is a people in the streets asking for freedom, asking for their rights... for demanding that and singing the National Anthem they cannot imprison anyone, they cannot murder anyone. There are political prisoners on the island and the Castro dictatorship does not respond. In Cuban prisons people are mistreated, “there is torture... and sometimes a guard can get out of hand and kill one of the prisoners,” he said, alluding to the repression that the protesters are suffering.
The singer Haydée Milanés, daughter of the famous Pablo Milanés, was another of those who used her social networks to send a message of support to the people of Cuba. The interpreter of Tanto amar thanked all the men and women who have been on the streets in recent days demanding freedom on the island, and denouncing the deficiencies of all kinds to which the people are subjected. Milanés took the opportunity to address the authorities and law enforcement to ask that they not attack or abuse these people who are demonstrating peacefully. He asked everyone to join.
Also the Cuban actors María Karla (Maka) Rivero Veloz and Jean Michel from La Casa de Maka sent a few words through Facebook to the authorities, who exercise violence against the complainants in the streets of the island. "This message is for you, who are repressing ordinary Cubans who are demonstrating peacefully: Unite and also ask for freedom, get on the right side, get on the side of the people!" Jean added that it was time for the military to change the history of the country and that they were the ones who could remove the dictators from power once and for all.
Likewise, the beloved actress Judith González, resident in the United States, uploaded a video on her page on the same social network, announcing the end of the dictatorship, an end that, according to her, is dictated by the hunger that the people suffer today. Cuban. "To the police, to the military, who are also hungry," he said, "you should be on the side of the people, because freedom is close."
Another of those who spoke on the subject was the comedian and circus performer Tony Benítez, who, after escaping from Cuba on a boat and having to remain at the Guantanamo Naval Base, settled in Miami. "I want to send a special message to those people [who] have had the unpleasant mission of repressing the Cuban people (...) let me tell you, my repressive friend, that you are part of that people." The artist pointed out the military who were being used and emphasized that whoever represses his brothers and his people is a traitor.
For her part, Cuban activist Carolina Ferrer, based in Europe, referred to the Cuban military on her Instagram profile and warned that they are also part of the people and that, therefore, they should be on the side of the people, since the dictatorship "only cares about subduing." Therefore, they, like many others, will be disposable one day, with which he made reference to the many cases of high-ranking Cuban officials who have been “discarded” under charges of corruption when they were no longer necessary to power.
