"WE WILL NOT LEAVE THEM ALONE." CUBALEX CAMPAIGN IN SUPPORT OF CAMINAERA PROTESTERS

In Democratic Spaces we stand in solidarity with Cubalex in their campaign to support the five peaceful protesters arbitrarily arrested in Caimanera, Cuba on May 6. 2023. The right to freedom of assembly and peaceful protests is a human rights. As democracy defenders we have a moral debt with all those who raise their voices for a democratic, inclusive and free cuba.

The legal organization Cubalex launched the "Let's not leave them alone" campaign to support five protesters detained in Caimanera, Guantánamo. On May 6, people in Caimanera fed up with conditions of misery and oppression took to the streets to complain about deprivation of essential social rights such as electricity and food. The protests soon became a demand for democracy and human rights.

Brothers Luis Miguel Alarcón Martínez and Felipe Correa Martínez are being held in the Operations Unit, while Daniel Álvarez González, Rody Álvarez González, and Yandris Pelier Matos have been declared in "enforced disappearance."

Cubalex called for the release of the detainees and denounced the summons by the State Security of independent journalist Yeris Curbelo Aguilar, who identified the young people arrested during the protest and interviewed their relatives.

Latest reports on protesters arbitrarily arrested. May 9. 2023.

As of May 9. 2023, Victoria Martínez Valdivia, mother of two of those arrested, told Radio Martí on Tuesday that she received this information in a meeting Monday afternoon with State Security officials. The process, she was told, is under investigation, so none of the protesters will be released, as previously promised to the woman by municipal government officials.

Her sons, Felipe Correa Martínez, 26, and Luis Miguel Alarcón Martínez, 31, both beaten during Saturday's protest in Caimanera, are being held at the State Security Operations Unit, located in the town of Montesano, in the city of Guantánamo, said Martínez Valdivia in a conversation with journalist Ivette Pacheco.

Other relatives are still without news. In a conversation with Radio Marti, Alfredo Alvarez Pozo, father of the detained Rodi and Daniel Alvarez Gonzalez, affirmed that so far he has had no communication with his sons, so he continues to report them as unaccounted for.

"I want to know how Daniel and Rodi are, how they are," he said. "I have not been able to communicate with them."

For a chronology and summary of the main origins and demands of the Caimanera protests, see, A Summary of Protests in Camainera, Guantanamo, Cuba.”