Hispanics Protest Communist Delegations Arriving In NYC For UN Assembly
On Tuesday, a group of mostly Hispanic demonstrators gathered to peacefully protest the presence of delegations from the communist regimes of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua — who had come to New York City to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
The protests had been happening throughout the week to call out the Cuban communist Castro regime, the Venezuelan socialist regime of Nicolás Maduro and the Nicaraguan Sandinista regime of Daniel Ortega.
In a statement to Spanish-language news outlet Cibercuba, Cuban activist Ana Olema spoke out about the protests — explaining that the U.N. General Assembly “is gathering here those who call themselves presidents. And we are here in support of the Venezuelans, because this is a chess game – when the Venezuelan regime falls, the Cuban regime falls.”
“Cuba is with Venezuela, with Ukraine, with Colombia, with Nicaragua, so that all countries suffering dictatorship may live in freedom,” she wrote.
Another Cuban activist, María Teresa Rafaelly, released a statement to Spanish-language news outlet Martí Noticias — demanding “Freedom for Venezuela, Freedom for Cuba, freedom for our political prisoners. Let’s keep united, where one falls, all fall.”
Several Cuban citizens residing in the U.S. have joined the peaceful protests throughout the week against the Castro regime’s figurehead President President Miguel Díaz-Canel — specifically condemning the regime’s repression, as well as the over one thousand political prisoners being held by the regime. Díaz-Canel arrived in New York on Sunday, and gave a speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday condemning the U.S. for refusing to engage in trade with Cuba.
“It has been unfortunate,” Cuban artist and activist Anamely Ramos said during a demonstration on Monday, adding: “It is very frustrating to see him arrive, to see that they give him the visa, that he is here and the worst thing is that he is going to speak at the United Nations, an organization that receives complaints every month from Cuban civil society of disappearances. Forced, arbitrary detentions, torture inside prisons.”
Meanwhile, a group of former political prisoners from Venezuela also joined the peaceful protest in Times Square on Tuesday, calling on the international community to demand that Maduro shut down his country’s torture centers and release the roughly 300 political prisoners currently being held there, along with others being held across the region.
The protesters were shown footage of “the Helicoide” — an unfinished building designed in the 1950s to become the first drive-through mall in the world, which ultimately became the Maduro regime’s most infamous political prison and torture center.
Pro-Castro activists reportedly attempted to disrupt a protest from a group of Cuban exiles on Monday outside of the headquarters of the Cuban permanent mission to the U.N., according to exiled Cuban pastor Mario Félix Lleonart.
“The other group tried to advance towards us to challenge us, it seemed to us that the security forces favored them because they allowed them to get closer to the diplomatic headquarters than us,” Lleonart told the Spain-based Diario de Cuba outlet in a statement. “These people were shouting but without passion, unlike us who were shouting from our experiences of pain.”
The Maduro and Ortega regimes will be participating in the U.N. General Assembly later this week.
