In a surprising twist after days of tension and clashes between the Cuban government and the opposition movement, one of the more visible faces of the dissident group Archipiélago left for Spain with his wife.
According to the Spanish newspaper El País, which referred to anonymous diplomatic sources, actor and playwright Yunior García arrived in Madrid on a tourist visa he requested. Europa Press first reported the trip.
On Sunday, a photo of García showing a white rose through his apartment window in Havana sent a powerful message of the struggle of an opposition movement led by young Cubans and the civic group Archipiélago.
The group had called for a peaceful protest march on Monday to advocate for the release of political prisoners. But the government deployed its security forces to patrol the streets and detain supporters.
Even after the crackdown frustrated its plans, Archipiélago claimed the whole affair forced the government to show its authoritarian face and generated support within the population.
But news Monday of García’s departure was a blow to the island’s opposition movement, with many of its prominent figures currently in jail or exiled. It is not known if García was pressured by the Cuban government to leave the island, but several other activists, artists and dissidents have been recently forced to leave the country.
Late Tuesday, Archipiélago had publicly said García and his wife had “disappeared” and urged the Cuban government to provide information about their whereabouts, which suggests García did not communicate his travel plans or was not allowed to.
On Wednesday morning, the social-media channels and accounts of the groups were silent, and the group had not made a statement about his departure.
Miami Herald efforts to reach García were unsuccessful.
García has been the target of a relentless weeks-long campaign to discredit him in Cuban state media and pro-government blogs after Archipiélago notified authorities of the planned march. Cuban authorities accused him, without proof, of being paid by the United States as part of a plot to destabilize the country, a typical accusation against dissidents in Cuba.
Ahead of the march, state security agents told him he would be arrested if he joined the protests.
A pro-government mob and state security officials surrounded García’s house on Sunday, preventing him from going on a symbolic walk by himself carrying a white rose. In an interview with the Herald that morning, he described the scene at his apartment.
“They can knock down my door at any moment,” Garcia said. “There are many cars, security agents in civilian clothes. I am looking from my window, and they are all over the street, in a school that is in front of my house, on the ground floor of my building, they are in front of my door, they are everywhere”.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.