The Cuban government on Tuesday rejected the opposition's request to demonstrate on November 15, saying its organizers are backed by Washington to bring about regime change, according to an official statement.
"
The promoters (of this demonstration) and their public representatives, some of whom have ties to subversive organizations or agencies funded by the US government, have the clear intention of promoting a change in the political system in Cuba,
" according to the response. of the authorities published by the official Cubadebate portal.
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"
The announced demonstration, with a simultaneous organization in other provinces of the country, constitutes a provocation
" and "
the reasons given for demonstrating are not recognized as legitimate
", assures the Communist government, recalling the "
irrevocable
"
character
of the socialist system Cuban, as defined in the new Constitution adopted in 2019.
"They always say the idea came from Washington"
An identical response was given both in Havana and in the six other (out of 15) provinces of the island (Holguin, Cienfuegos, Pinar del Rio, Las Tunas, Santa Clara and Guantanamo) where a demand for a demonstration "
against violence
And for "
the change
" had been filed. In Havana, the director Yunior Garcia, organizer of the planned demonstration in the capital, regretted the accusations of funding by the American government: “
Whatever the Cuban does, they always say that the idea came from Washington, it's as if we weren't thinking, as if we Cubans didn't have brains
”. While "
Of course, every sane Cuban wants a change for the better, he wants Cuba to have more democracy, more progress, more freedom,
”he said.
The protest was originally scheduled for November 20, but the government last week declared that day "
National Defense Day
", preceded by two days of military exercises. “
We couldn't be irresponsible, we didn't want violence, we didn't want the Cubans to clash with each other and we couldn't launch the demonstrators into a fight in the streets against the army, which could react to each other. violent way,
”explained Yunior Garcia. So “
the most reasonable thing was to bring the event forward
” to November 15, the day the island reopened to international tourism.
Asked what he was going to do now that the demonstration is banned, the director indicated that he would "
consult the members of Archipiélago (Archipel, political debate group on Facebook at the origin of this call to demonstrate , Editor's note) and have a meeting
”on this subject.
These calls to protest come a few months after the historic demonstrations of July 11, in some fifty towns on the island, which resulted in deaths, dozens injured and more than a thousand detainees, several hundred of whom are still imprisoned.
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