Yunior García, main promoter of the November 15 marches against the Cuban Government, arrives in Madrid

November 17, 2021

Cuban opposition artist Yunior García Aguilera arrived in Spain this Wednesday, November 17, after authorities prevented him from leaving his house on Sunday and carried out acts of repudiation to prevent a solo march he had announced.

In a message published on Facebook, the playwright confirmed that, along with his wife, Dayana Prieto, they had "arrived in Spain alive, healthy, and with our ideas intact".

Sources from the Spanish government had previously informed several news agencies of García's arrival in Madrid "with a tourist visa".

Subsequently, official Cuban journalists published images of the playwright with a suitcase at Havana's airport.

"Yunior finally leaves... as a tourist to Madrid", titled the Cubadebate portal.

The Cuban government stated this Wednesday that there has been no agreement between Havana and Madrid to facilitate the departure from the country of the Cuban dissident.

A representative of the island's government told the Efe agency that Cuban authorities "have nothing to do with" García's departure and pointed out that the artist had processed the tourist visa "on his own".

In a live broadcast on social media with filmmaker Ian Padrón, García confirmed that it was a personal decision.

"The decision was mine alone", said the actor, who indicated that he made it on the 14th and "thinking about objective reasons".

According to him, he decided to emigrate when he realized they were not going to imprison him, but rather "silence him".

"Their strategy was to silence me, the only way to escape from them was this", he said.

"I broke down, I collapsed", he said, while recalling that he suffered acts of repudiation at his home and that his phone and internet services were cut off.

The circumstances of the trip are unclear at the moment—how the playwright and his partner obtained the tourist visa or how they got to the airport despite the police surveillance that had been reported outside his house to prevent him from leaving.

In his remarks, García, who led the call for the failed march on November 15, did not provide details about the travel preparations, but claimed he had requested the visa "in case they were going to arrest me".

On its social media, the Spanish embassy recently published that it would not process tourist visas for Cubans until November 30 and that restrictions on non-essential travel from third countries, including Cuba, would be maintained.

It is also unknown whether García and his wife received the vaccines authorized to enter the European Union as tourists.

Since Tuesday, members of the Archipiélago platform, created by García and organizer of a failed march for November 15, had reported García as "missing" after losing communication with him.

The also 39-year-old actor has become in recent times the most visible face of a new current of opposition in Cuba, led by young artists.

Cuban authorities reinforced security in response to the call for a protest march for November 15.

García participated in the unprecedented protest that took place on November 27, 2020, in solidarity with members of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), another group of artists who were on a hunger strike and were violently evicted by police.

Later, on July 11, as part of the protests that took place in the country, García went with another group of artists to the headquarters of Cuba's Institute of Radio and Television to request 15 minutes of airtime on Cuban TV.

"Changes in Cuba are unstoppable, no matter what happens in the coming days": Yunior García, the artist who defies the government with an unprecedented protest call

It was then that he created Archipiélago, the group that made an unusual call for protest on November 15, which was not authorized by authorities, and which led to a large police deployment and numerous acts of repudiation during Sunday and Monday.