Several steps are expected on November 15 to demand the release of prisoners of July 11th.
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Convocations by the police, targeted internet cuts and defamation campaigns against organizers, threats to criminal prosecution for sedition of those who dare to participate, and counter-events of the plan: the reactions of the Cuban government in response to the Grande Expected protest on Monday, November 15 in about sixty cities of the country betray its fear of the rise of social groove and democratic demands on the island.
“We will not allow any permanent aggression of the United States Government, and its constant and sustained attempts (…) to create the conditions for domestic destabilization,” warned the Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs , Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, November 10, facing the accredited diplomatic corps in Cuba – The government accusing for weeks Washington to be behind an attempt at “coup d’état”, to better justify the prohibition of the event.
Four months after the mobilizations of July 11, during which thousands of people defied the regime shouting “We are hungry” or “down the dictatorship”, and who resulted in a death, dozens of wounded And hundreds of arrests, tensions remain strong on the island. Initially, the event had been convened for the 20th of November by the Archipielago civic debate platform, led by the Cuban Yunior Garcia Aguilera dramatist, in order to “demand the release of political prisoners and the resolution of disputes by democratic lanes and Pacific “.
According to the CubaBex NGO, 612 people arrested in July are still behind the bars. But the event was finally put forward of five days after the government’s decision of Miguel Diaz-Caneel to decree on 20 November National Defense Day and schedule two days of military maneuvers upstream. “A disguised threat”, then said Mr. Garcia, whose communication networks have been cut since November 5th.
“Express a plurality of ideas”
In response to the intimidation of the plan, the Archipielago coordinators, all convened by the police, invited Cubans who would not dare to express their support by participating in a concert of pots or dressing in white . To those who will participate in the march, they asked to avoid any provocation – the Cuban government having decided to organize a party on November 15 for the 502 e Anniversary of the Foundation of Havana.
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