A SUMMARY OF THE PROTESTS IN CAIMANERA CUBA
Protests broke out in Caimanera, Guantanamo, Cuba, at around 7 p.m. on May 6,. 2023 and lasted over an hour.
The trigger for the protest was due to the lack of food and poor conditions of the healthcare system. Demonstrators were heard shouting "Long live human rights" and "Freedom," while a man declared "We don't want more speeches, we want food" in one of the videos.
Artwork: Julio LLopiz-Casal
First three men took to the streets and began to demonstrate on Carretera Street between Martí and Correo, and the people joined them. A demonstrator told Cubanet, “we walked along Caimanera until we reached the park and passed by the Party headquarters,"
At 8:30 p.m., internet and telephone access failed, and reports of internet censorship followed.
The Cuban regime had cut off access to the web, according to NetBlock Observatory. After quelling the protest in Caimanera, the internet was re-established. However, several videos surfaced on social networks showing the military violently repressing protesters once the connection was restored.
The men who initiated the protest were reportedly detained, according to a reporter from Palenque Visión who lives in Caimanera.
As of May 7, 2023 at 4 pm, there are reports published by independent media outlets about five young men who remain arbitrarily detained in #Caimanera, #Guantanamo for their participation in the May 6th protests in Cuba. Their families do not know their whereabouts & have not communicated with them since.
Activist and independent reporter Yeris Curbelo, resident in the locality to Cubanet News the names of those arrested: Yandris Pelier Matos, brothers Felipe Correa Martínez and Luis Miguel Alarcón Martínez, and brothers Rodi and Daniel Álvarez González.
Sources consulted. Based on chronologies published by Cubanet and Martí Noticias.
Mother of two of the protesters in Caimanera in an interview with Cubanet.
"I am desperate. They have my eldest missing. Luis Miguel Alarcón Martínez was kicked in the head. I don't know if my son is dead or alive. His brother went out to help him and they hit him everywhere. They hit me, they hit my daughter with cookies too," says Victoria Martínez Valdivia, mother of two of the protesters detained in Caimanera.
She adds that her other son, Felipe Correa Martínez, has an intellectual disability. "They are all beaten," Victoria repeats over and over again in exclusive statements to CubaNet.
The mother of the young men notes that none of the demonstrators acted violently on people or state property.
"They came out because they saw what their nephews were eating: peas with weevils, rice and a boiled plantain, all cooked without oil. What are we, machos (pigs)?", Victoria questions.
"They came out because they couldn't take it anymore. Hearing those little creatures say: 'I am hungry'. That led them to demonstrate.
