Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart has called for justice and freedom for Cuban protestors on the fifth anniversary of a protest against the Castro regime.
Rep. Díaz-Balart, whose District 26 includes Miami Lakes, spoke out on the anniversary of what have come to be called the J11 protests. The pro-democracy protests, which that took place in Cuba on July 11, 2021, were met with a swift crackdown from the Cuban government.
According to contemporary media reports, the protests began when local people around the country took to the street protesting issues that varied from the political situation to blackouts to shortages of medicine and food. Widespread access to 3g/4g cellular data, which was then still relatively new in Cuba, meant that local protests could be seen in realtime around the island.
The regime’s response was swift, with then-leader
Miguel Díaz-Canel deploying police and security forces in operations that led to mass arrests.
According to international human rights organizations including Amnesty International, hundreds of protestors remain incarcerated.
In his statement, Rep. Diaz-Balart said that “we stand in solidarity with the brave Cuban people who, on July 11, 2021, made history by rising up across the island to demand freedom, dignity, and an end to decades of tyranny.
“The historic J11 protests further exposed the brutality of the Castro regime. Instead of responding to the Cuban people’s legitimate calls for liberty, the dictatorship’s thugs unleashed violent repression, arrests, and harsh prison sentences against demonstrators, including minors. Still today, over 1,300 courageous Cubans –including 40 children– remain unjustly imprisoned.
“I demand the immediate release of all political prisoners, the end of impunity for those responsible for these heinous crimes, and I reaffirm my unwavering solidarity with those struggling for freedom.”
Other organizations including Amnesty continue to speak out against the treatment of the J11 protestors and others.
“The Cuban authorities continue to administer freedom as if it were a discretionary concession and not an obligation of the state. It is time to replace partial, opaque, revocable and unwarranted announcements with the immediate and unconditional release of all people imprisoned solely for exercising their human rights, and the definitive cessation of the use of freedom as a political bargaining chip,” Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International, said in a recent statement.