Almost 30 years ago, Amanda Benitez’s parents emigrated from Cuba to the United States in search of freedom.
Her father, Jorge Benitez, fled Cuba with his family and friends by boat without permission from the Cuban government and risked their lives to be free. Her mother, Elizabeth Benitez, was able to take the plane and did not yet know Jorge Benitez at the time.
Both settled in Miami, a place that many refer to as a haven for Cuban exiles. The two met and now live with their family in Cape Coral.
It’s been 30 years since they fled their country and longed for the freedoms of the United States, and now Cubans are taking to the streets of their cities protesting against their government for the same freedom.
The protests in Cuba began on July 11th and are considered to be the largest anti-government movement in the country in 30 years.
Almost immediately, Cubans and supporters all over southwest Florida stood with their friends, family and compatriots from the island about 200 miles south and held their own demonstrations.
The demonstrations in southwest Florida are said to last as long as the protests in Cuba.
Read:“We’ll keep coming out until something happens”: The Cuban community continues to show support in Collier
Read:“Patria y Vida”: Protesters in Naples and Fort Myers flood downtown to support freedom for Cuba
Amanda Benitez, 19, a student at the University of Florida, aspires to one day become a lawyer practicing international law.
Cubans are realizing that they have potential and it is being exhausted in a district that doesn’t allow them to thrive, Benitez said.
“The dream is to be as successful in your nation as anywhere else,” she said.
The protest in Cuba didn’t start out of nowhere. They have lived in oppression and silence for 62 years, but Benitez believes a variety of factors contributed to the Cubans now speaking out and fighting back.
They have lived under a dictatorship for decades and see how other nations live and realize that their way of life doesn’t make sense, Benitez said.
When COVID-19 struck, it exacerbated Cuba’s problems, she said. Their food and medicine became even more scarce.
For all Benitez can say, the protests started city by city and there was no proclaimed leader or movement.
“I see a whole nation of people who have lost their fear because they will already lose their lives under the conditions,” she said.
She hopes the Cubans will not give up the protest because it is a fight worth fighting.
So many people have died and been murdered, children have been kidnapped from their homes and forced to fight the demonstrators. And if Cubans living on the island refuse to fight back against protesters, it will be punished with death, Benitez said.
The protesters fight with stones and sticks because they have run out of weapons since Fidel Castro ruled Cuba from 1959 to 2008. Castro died in 2016.
She hopes the United States and other nations will help the Cuban people by providing them with real resources like military intervention as they fight a heavily armed military.
Since the protests began, there have been blackouts and limited access to the Internet, another resource that Benitez hopes the US can provide to Cuba.
“Internet access has been turned off so that information cannot spread to the population and people cannot see what is going on,” said Benitez.
See similar https://www.news-press.com/story/news/local/2021/07/18/cuban-freedom-rallies-continue-southwest-florida-protesters-say/8001458002/
The post Cuban freedom struggles are set to continue in southwest Florida, protesters say first appeared on Daily Florida Press.
from Daily Florida Press https://dailyfloridapress.com/cuban-freedom-struggles-are-set-to-continue-in-southwest-florida-protesters-say/
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