Havana Cuba. – When Roxana García Lorenzo and her husband, Jonatan López, went into exile in Germany, they did so with the conviction that it would not be a defeat or the end of their activism in defense of human rights in Cuba. Just a year and a half earlier they had become one of the most active families on the Island in defense of the freedom of political prisoners when her brother, Andy García Lorenzo, was arrested for participating in the protests on July 11, 2021 (11J) in Santa Clara and sentenced to four years in prison.
Both Roxana and her parents, her husband and her in-laws began to raise their voices both on social networks and on independent and international press platforms. They even confronted State Security and staged public protests.
In one year, they managed to organize economic and logistical aid for several political prisoners and their families (they called it “Aid to the brave men of 11J”). This, together with their frontality against the dictatorship, made them targets of constant attacks by the repressive apparatus.
They opened criminal files on Jonatan López and his father and threatened them with prison. They tortured Andy García in prison, telling him that his sister would be imprisoned if she did not keep quiet and collaborate. Surveillance, arbitrary arrests, fines and other repressive patterns followed one another on the family. Roxana and Andy’s father was even attacked with a knife by an individual who called his son a “delinquent.”
The first to leave the Island were Jonatan, his father, his mother and his minor sister, who turned 15 in a center for political refugees in Germany. Roxana would manage to join them a few months later. In interview with CubaNetthe young woman related how difficult the decision was for everyone and that it was her own brother who asked her to leave the country and thus avoid jail.
Despite the exile and separation from the rest of the family, part of Roxana and Jonatan’s heart has remained in their land. Today, from Germany, political refugees with life projects different from those they once imagined, persist in their fight to make visible and demand the release of political prisoners on the Island. They have participated in public protests against the Cuban dictatorship. , as well as organized the campaign “Not one more political prisoner in Cuba.”
Who are they and what do they propose?
Jonatan and Roxana lead this initiative, along with other activists, some of them within the Island. After months of preparation, the campaign was officially launched on June 3.
García Lorenzo explained to CubaNet that the objective is to “make visible the serious human rights situation of the Cuban political prisoners” and that they are motivated by “the desire to make publicly known the greatest number of political prisoners and individually”, as well as “what each individual experiences.” one of them in a regime prison.”
Although he recognizes that there are organizations focused on documenting and making visible the situation of political prisoners, he states: “There is a need for this type of initiatives to exist” because “every day there is more repression in Cuba and the number of political prisoners grows.”
According to the most recent report by Prisoners Defenders, there are currently 1,100 political prisoners on the Island, who are subjected to constant physical and psychological torture.
“We believe that we must become more and more those who denounce these repressive acts and give a voice to those who do not have one, just as we believe that we have to reinvent ourselves when making this content, which is not easy to position on networks because it is not content that is pleasant to see, it is nothing funny or gossipy, but quite the opposite,” explains the young woman.
The campaign comes at a time when the regime is preparing to face protests due to the worsening of the crisis and citizen discontent in the country.
“The Cuban Government has gone so far as to threaten, through national television, to apply the death penalty to those who dare to demonstrate in the streets,” said Jonatan López.
Together for change
The 23-year-olds call to join “in this fight for freedom” and to raise their voices “for those who cannot do it.”
“Thousands of voices have been silenced, hundreds of families destroyed by a regime that seeks to silence freedom. We cannot allow this to continue. (…) Together we can achieve change!” reads the campaign call.
The couple believes that “many things have changed for the Cuban regime,” which “is experiencing the worst moment in its history.”
“All of this is largely due to the work that activists and organizations have done, to the denunciations of the aberrations that this dictatorship commits every day against its people and its political prisoners. The fact of focusing on Cuba makes it no longer so easy for foreign politicians related to the regime to continue showing their support,” says Roxana.
For her husband, “this work is giving more and more results; An example of that are the resolutions of the European Parliament on Cuba,” she says. Even so, “the seriousness of the situation is undeniable and we cannot remain indifferent,” she concludes.
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2024-06-15 08:53:47
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