QCOSTARICA – It was at 8:30 in the morning in front of the Cuban Embassy that Cubans in Costa Rica started to show up, to take took advantage of the good morning weather to protest, carrying flags of their home country and banners, then walked the 500 meters that separate the embassy of the television Channel 7 in Sabana Oeste.
“Murderous dictators”, “homeland and life”, “Canel and henchmen will pay.” “Down with the Castro-Canel dictatorship! Viva Cuba!”, “Stop killing our people!”were some the phrases on the boards and shouts to show their annoyance and the pain they feel at what their brothers live on the island.
Claudia Villalta was in tears: “They are killing our people, this is genocide. I have been in exile in Costa Rica for more than twenty years, but I love and defend my Cuba. They are kidnapping the 16-year-olds to put them into the army. There are already more than sixty disappeared and no one gives an account of them.
“Cuba can’t take it anymore. The people need food, medicine. We are tired of the dictatorship, it is more than six decades, no longer, it is time for Cuba to know peace and freedom,” she said.
The Cubans in Costa Rica amassed in protest Wednesday morning assured that they will return to the streets in the next few days if the situation on the island continues to be so “complicated”, especially after Sunday, when there were protests against the government in several cities on the island and which were repressed by the police.
It’s been almost five years since the death of Fidel Castro and three months after Raúl Castro retired (April 18, 2021) and handed over power to Miguel Díaz-Canel, who has been president of the island since October 2019, many Cubans are calling for change, something the government does not intend to do.
The situation in Cuba has become more serious for its people due to the lack of tourism caused by the pandemic.