To promote a peaceful transition to a Cuba that respects human rights
and political and economic freedoms
Cuban dissidents gather in front of Ministry of Culture to read poems of José Martí. Minister of Culture responds with physical violence.
"I think they kill my child every time they deprive a person of their right to think." - José Martí
Two months ago, after agents of the Castro regime raided the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement to round up artists, journalists, and intellectuals on hunger strike demanding the release of jailed Cuban rapper Denis Solis, hundreds of Cuban artists and intellectuals gathered outside the Ministry of Culture in a non-violent sit-in. 32 of the demonstrators were invited into the Ministry as hundreds of secret police gathered around the peaceful protesters threatening repression.
Cuban artists, intellectuals, and journalists gathered outside of the Ministry of Culture on January 27, 2021
In the meeting the Vice Minister of Culture Fernando Rojas committed to an ongoing dialogue if the demonstrators dispersed. Emerging from the meeting the sit-in was called to an end and everyone went home. Official media began to slander and demonize the dissidents who had participated in the sit-in for weeks after the meeting. Many also suffered harassment and surveillance. Out of this protest the 27N movement came into existence. On January 27, 2021 three representatives of the 27N movement were scheduled to meet with Vice Minister Rojas, and they were part of a group of approximately 30, with the majority waiting outside. Other activists were detained before leaving their homes.
Vice Minister of Culture Fernando Rojas backtracked on his commitment to dialogue.
Hyperallergic and The ArtNewspaper reported on yesterday's crackdown and their articles are shared below. The human rights NGO Cubalex documented what happened and provided greater details along with list of activists impacted:
The group of artists # 27N along with other people linked such as members of the #MSI [San Isidro Movement], journalists and Cuban intellectuals, had planned to meet at the corner of 11 and 4, in Vedado, Plaza de la Revolución municipality, next to the Ministry of Culture to perform a tribute for the birth of José Martí. At least 3 of them (Solveig Font, Camila Lobón and Yunior García) had a meeting scheduled with Vice Minister Fernando Rojas, coordinated and confirmed by the Vice Minister himself the day before. State Security agents made arbitrary detentions and organized surveillance operations illegally imposing home confinement on their members to prevent them from moving and reaching the place where they planned to carry out the activity, consisting of a reading of poems by the national apostle. [...]
A total of 29 arrests were made to 27 people (the artists Tania Bruguera and Camila Lobón were arrested twice) and began at approximately 9:00 AM. The artist Camila Ramírez Lobón was arrested at the corner of 11 and 4, in Vedado, along with the journalist Camila Acosta, who documented the moment of the arrest. Ramírez Lobón was detained for an hour and later released. The journalist Luz Escobar was forced to be confined at her home by a State Security agent who remained near her door.
Cubalex reported what happened in front the of the Ministry of Culture based on reports provided by those present.
At least 30 people managed to meet in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Culture, where they read poems by Martí and asked for the freedom of Tania Bruguera, Katherine Bisquet and Camila Acosta, and continue to refresh the demands that these artists are asking for, until they were interrupted. by officials. At approximately 2:00 in the afternoon, officials from the Ministry of Culture, Alpidio Alonso, Minister of Culture, and Vice Ministers Fernando Rojas and Fernando León Jacomino, who threw blows against the protesters. Specifically, Alpidio Alonso, the Minister of Culture, violently snatched the phone from Mauricio Mendoza, a journalist for Diario de Cuba. All the protesters were violently arrested in the middle of a repudiation rally with the MINCULT workers and forcefully and violently forced into an urban transport bus. They were transferred to the police station located between Infanta and Manglar streets, in the Cerro de La Habana municipality.
Minister of Culture Alpidio Alonso attacked an independent journalist
Among the reports by dissidents detained two are reproduced below taken from Cubalex:
Oscar Casanella, in his social networks, reported on the arrest. He relates that all the members of the group were beaten into an omnibus. He confirms that those who began to push and hit were the officials of the Ministry of Culture, among them the current Minister Alpidio Alonso. After being transferred to the police station, they took him to a classroom where there were other policemen and state security agents guarding him. He adds that Maykel Castillo and Héctor Luis were separated from the group. They did not get them on the bus that took them to Infanta and Manglar. "What we are experiencing today was very unpleasant, very strong," he declared. During the arbitrary detention he was beaten, a violent repressor punched him in the thorax and in the face, which showed injuries, inflammation and pain.
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