The Diplomat
Cuban opposition leader Yunior García, who arrived in Spain on Wednesday, said yesterday in Madrid that he does not intend to seek political asylum in our country and believes that the Castro regime let him leave the island so that he would not become a symbol of the resistance.
García, a playwright and one of the main voices of the Archipiélago Group, which promoted the frustrated ‘Civic March’ on the 15th in Cuba demanding greater freedoms, called a press conference to explain the reasons for his departure from the country, accompanied by his wife, with two 90-day visas.
The dissident acknowledged that the decision to leave the island was not an easy one and pointed out that he took it in the knowledge that although he was convinced that he would not be imprisoned so as not to make him “a symbol”, they would try to isolate and silence him, reports Europa Press.
In this sense, he compared his situation and that of his wife to that of the pigeons that appeared decapitated in front of his house. “We have flown because if we stay in Cuba they will decapitate us”, he said, stressing that he holds firm to his ideas and principles and does not intend to renounce them.
“The only thing I have is my voice, I could not remain silent, someone has to say what is happening”, he said, while making it clear that his intention is to return to the island but for the moment he does not know when he will be able to do so.
Yunior García maintained that the Cuban government is no longer left-wing and is a “tyranny” made up of a “caste” of leaders who live like “bourgeoisie” and who have become “conservatives” who want to maintain their status.
He denied that his departure was a “victory” for the regime, since what they were seeking was to silence him and they have not managed to take away his voice so that he can tell the world what is happening on the island.
“The relationship with Cuba has to mature”, he said, stressing that on the island “the marriage between the government and the people is a failed marriage where the regime behaves like an abusive husband”.
He alluded to the fact that Fidel Castro once said that the Revolution would not turn into Saturn that devoured his children, “but the truth,” he stressed, “is that it has already devoured his children and is now devouring his grandchildren”.
The opposition leader denounced that, in Cuba, “people are treated like worms, they are threatened and beaten” so that “there is no kind of democracy”. And he showed his incomprehension with the difficulty that, particularly from the left, they seem to have in speaking of a dictatorship on the island.
“What exists in Cuba is fascism, what I have experienced in the last few days cannot be called anything else”, he stressed, referring to the threats and harassment he has been subjected to. “How can anyone believe that this is leftist”, he asked, assuring that if this is the case, given that he considers himself to be a leftist, “they will tell me that I will withdraw”.
In this sense, he called on the international community to “stop looking the other way” when it comes to Cuba. What there is there, he explained, resorting to terms from the theatre, which is his profession, “is a mediocre farce, a spectacle in bad taste”. “If the world continues to applaud this spectacle of bad taste, I am going to lose my faith in the humanity of these times,” he admitted.
Asked whether he plans to maintain contacts with Podemos, among other parties, during his stay in Spain, García replied that he is “open to talk to anyone”. “We have to talk to everyone”, he said, stressing that he does not want “a drop of blood to be spilled from any Cuban, no matter how they think” in order to achieve the goal of freedom on the island.
