Cuban dissidents were blockaded in their homes by the Cuban government on Monday amid planned protests for freedom, according to the Miami Herald.
Yunior García, a Cuban playwright involved in organizing the protests, was blockaded in his Havana home by security forces on Sunday, according to the Miami Herald.
The outlet reported that García, stopped from walking outside, showed a white rose symbolizing the protests from his window.
Security forces also surrounded the Havana home of journalist Yoani Sánchez throughout the day on Monday, according to the Miami Herald.
Saily González, a Cuban entrepreneur who planned to participate in the protests, had her Santa Clara home surrounded by a pro-government mob hurling insults at her, according to the Miami Herald.
Protests are allowed under the Cuban constitution but the government labelled the planned Monday protests, specifically calling for political freedoms, as secretly organized by the United States and Cuban exiles.
Cuba’s government succeeded in repressing planned, national demonstrations yesterday. But @roslake tells “The Intelligence” that the protest mood remains strong https://t.co/lovkVhFZmW
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) November 16, 2021
Massive protests for freedom erupted on the island in July prompting anti-communists to urge the Biden administration to act. A State Department official at the time claimed the protests were about COVID-19 instead of freedom.
CNN reported the arrests of dissidents Augustin Figueroa Galindo and Berta Soler Fernández while the Miami Herald reported that dissidents Manuel Cuesta Morúa, Ángel Moya, and Carolina Barrero were also arrested on Monday. (RELATED: ‘Squad Socialists In Congress Oddly Quite About Anti-Communism Protests In Cuba)
Despite the crackdown on the demonstrations, García told the Miami Herald Sunday that “the message has to be that the Cuban people need to start thinking as citizens.”