The artists’ protest in Cuba is two years old: where are its protagonists?

The 27N, a protest –later transformed into a platform– of Cuban artists demanding freedom of expression and work in front of the Ministry of Culture, celebrates two years with their faces more visible away from activism on the island due to pressure or in exile .

The spark from that November 27, 2020 demonstration was the cornerstone of turbulent months on the island, which reached their most tense moment with the July 11, 2021 mobilizations, the largest anti-government protests in decades.

“It was a catalyst for the protests. None of the demonstrations that preceded 11J could be without the solidarity” of that day, Carolina Barrero, one of the participants, who now lives in Madrid, reminded EFE.

On that occasion, according to unofficial data, about 300 people staged a sit-in in front of the Ministry of Culture (mincult) in protest against the arrest of members of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), of the well-known artist – recently sentenced to 6 years in prison – Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara.

“It was a moment when many said for the first time, and out loud, what they collectively thought. It was a coming out of the closet,” recalled Tania Bruguera, one of the most recognized artists of that movement, now based in the United States.

The demonstrators reached a preliminary agreement with the Mincult, after more than four hours of meetings between thirty representatives of the group and the authorities.

Among the participants in that meeting was Yunior García – exiled to Madrid – who will later be remembered for the Archipelago platform, which called the frustrated dissident march on November 15, 2021, not authorized by the authorities.

For many of the members of that group, consulted by EFE, this dialogue set a precedent. He managed to get the government of Miguel Díaz-Canel to legitimize a dissident group as an interlocutor and unified civil society for the first time.

dialogue interrupted

The dialogue ended in January 2021 when around twenty independent activists and artists gathered at the ministry headquarters and they got arrested.

After several verbal clashes between activists and officials, the head of Culture, Alpidio Alonso, slapped the mobile phone of one of the participants, a gesture that was recorded.

Julio Llópiz-Casal assured in an interview with EFE in Madrid that, despite the failure of the negotiations, it was the correct strategy: “I don’t think we were naive, we did our best. They were the ones who broke every channel of dialogue”.

Solveig Font, also in the Spanish capital, together with his 21-year-old son, coincided with Llópiz-Casal.

I wouldn’t change anything. I believe in dialogue, I still believe it. Maybe we were a little naive, but change comes step by step, he concluded on the other end of the phone.

As some of the protagonists recalled, the artists who remained in Cuba were abandoning activism, at least publicly, because of the Pressure on state security.

Llópiz-Casal, for example, resisted until 2021: (One) wears out humanly and Cuban reality passes over you.

It is logical, normal (that those who are left have a low profile). Too bad that two years later Cuba has deteriorated in almost everything, Font lamented.

Unite to be heard

One element highlighted by the dissident Cubans consulted by EFE is that the 27N functioned as a glue that united people of a broad ideological spectrum under a common agenda.

Bruguera highlighted that, unlike what happened after the 11J, in the group of demonstrators who protested in front of the Mincult there was no head that represented everything.

“Society is no longer the same. The people don’t want another Fidel-style leader,” she reflected referring to the former president and leader of the Cuban revolution.

Many analysts have noted that since then there hasn’t been a dissident group that has been able to capitalize on the discontent of the protests since 9/11. Nor in the most recent, after the passage of hurricane Ian, which caused the complete collapse of the national electricity system.

divided dissent

Added to this is the fragmentation of dissentsomething that was highlighted last September with the referendum on the Code, a rule which provided for, among others, equal marriage and surrogate motherhood.

Then some opponents and activists defended the “yes” – to represent an advance of rights – while others supported the “no” – not to legitimize the system – and some opted for abstention, which produced fractures.

For Llópiz-Casal, this kind of fierce confrontation is due to the fact that civil society has been shut down for decades.

These internal divisions have not been seen in recent weeks. Many of 27N’s members – such as those who have agreed to speak with EFE – have openly called for abstention in the municipal elections in Cuba to be held this Sunday. Exactly on November 27th.

Source: EFE

B. C