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Cuban-American actor Jason Canela spoke to El American to lend his support to the demonstrations called on the island of Cuba and called on the U.S. government to “vocalize” the dramatic situation Cubans are going through and promote “the unity of allies” against the dictatorship.
“If Biden could do something, I would ask him to help strengthen our international allies to unite and denounce the illegitimacy of that government,” Canela said. The young actor added that while he would like the U.S. to intervene militarily, he knows that change must come “from within.”
Canela, who has family on the island, said he does not expect anything different from the repression seen in previous demonstrations against the Castro dictatorship of Miguel Diaz-Canel, and told that his relatives, like millions of Cubans, have been threatened with jail if they dare to protest.
“Sadly, I expect to see hundreds or thousands of disappeared, imprisoned for expressing a different ideology than the one the regime wants them to express,” the actor said. “Heroes, that’s what they are. The people of Cuba are as powerful as Superman to me,” he continued.
“They will go to the streets knowing that they will be thrown in jail, that they will be shot, and they do it because they are tired of being robbed of their freedom.”
The Cuban sent a message to Americans who idolize Fidel Castro and wear “Che” Guevara t-shirts: “I would tell them to educate themselves (…) Some only do it because they think it is cool or fashionable, but they do not go further in investigating who these people were”.
This November 15, a demonstration took place by Cubans on the island to demand freedom. So far, dozens of arrests have been reported amid repression by the dictatorship.
