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Orlando Gutiérrez, the coordinator of the Cuban Resistance Assembly, called on Wednesday from Miami, Florida, for a national strike in Cuba as a result of the social outburst and protests of last July 11, considered unprecedented in more than 60 years of Castroism.
“Today marks the first month of the beginning of the civic uprising for freedom (in Cuba), a national rebellion that shows the world the deep desire of the Cuban people to live under the rule of law,” Gutierrez said in a video message.
Gutierrez said in his message that he was convinced of the need to move on to a “new stage of civic struggle” that crystallizes in a “national strike” with the “resignation of all the regime’s agencies” and the organization of “protests” and actions that “hinder” all the operations of the Cuban regime.
The activist acknowledged that the path initiated on J-11 “will not be easy” and referred, in this context, to the “hundreds of Cubans” who “have paid a very high price” with jail for their “peaceful frontal struggle against the regime” in the protests.
The coordinator of the Assembly of Cuban Resistance, a platform that brings together opposition organizations both in and outside of Cuba, appealed in his call to the slogans of “homeland and life” (in reference to the song that has become an anthem of the protests on the island), “we want freedom and the end of communism” and “we want the dictatorship to fall.”
“These objectives are the center of our struggle,” he added in his message to the Cuban people.
He stressed that the Cuban exile, “more united than ever”, has met again “in the vigor of this struggle with our brothers on the island”, with all those who demand change, the “immense majority”, he said.
The exile identified the “national strike” with a “state of conscience” that translates into “not cooperating” with the Cuban regime, “protesting in whatever way we can and making known the message of freedom”.
“The world is indeed looking at Cuba and knows that the Cuban people want freedom,” he emphasized.
