The founder of the Archipelago opposition was the main protagonist of the huge demonstrations that rocked Cuba in July.
According to reports, Cuban anti-government activist Yunior Garcia has fled Cuba following protests by the government in Havana and flying to Spain.
Garcia and his wife arrived at the airport in Madrid in Barajas Wednesday afternoon, a Spanish government official told reporters, ending his uncertainty.
“We are confirming that he has arrived with his wife, on a foreign visa,” a government source told Agence France-Presse.
Garcia, 39, was the founder of the archipelago and was the largest of its members demonstrations that shook Cuba in July. Protests against the lack of basic necessities and restrictions on human rights were rampant in Cuba in decades.
The Cuban government has taken a bold step and has arrested hundreds. This week, a preliminary demonstration in the capital Havana on November 15th was thwarted while opposition leaders were imprisoned and security guards flooded the streets.
Garcia wanted to cross the Havana center with a white rose in his hands, to make sure the protest group was not violent.
But Garcia’s house in Havana was surrounded by government security and government officials and by the day of the planned demonstrations, his area was calm.
Fans on television said they had not heard anything since Tuesday morning.
The Spanish newspaper El Pais quoted a source close to Garcia as saying that he had left because of a “police riot” he had encountered in recent weeks.
“I know that he did everything in his power to keep me going. Yes, they tried to arrest me. “Maybe they will arrange to watch me outside my house so I don’t leave,” Garcia told AFP during a Cuban interview last month.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on November 15 criticized what he called threatening methods from the Cuban government.
“We call on the Cuban government to reject violence, and instead, take this opportunity to listen to the voices of their people,” Blinken said.
Archipelago Tuesday tried to continue the protests for 10 days, even though the government banned the protests. It invited its members to perform individual demonstrations in white, making their own films and pots and pans night until November 27th.
The Spanish news agency EFE says authorities have removed the notices of several of its journalists in Havana.
Cuban officials were involved was arrested for promoting human rights Guillermo Farinas on November 12, three days before the show.
