Freedom for Leonardo Romero Negrín

Last night, Leonardo Romero Negrín was arrested with extreme VIOLENCE and REMAINS IN CUSTODY

His family was told they would be given an update at 8:30 a.m., but now it turns out his case file is missing and they’ll be told at 10 a.m.

Leo was arrested in his neighborhood in Centro Habana for doing what every decent Cuban should be doing right now: participating in a cacerolazo.

Pot-banging protests and demonstrations in Cuba are legitimate (they always are, but even more so in Cuba).

How can you force a change in the economic system on a people who are sick, worn out, hungry, and without electricity—a people you didn’t give a damn about in your new measures because they don’t address political changes or basic rights? How can you do that when your people can’t even protest?

I’m posting a photo from July 11 and highlighting the violence because I’ve had enough.

Political prisoners aren’t the personal punching bags of state security or the police.

Leonardo Romero has been systematically detained by you. Alongside him, I experienced constant political pressure in Cuba. You’ve attacked us in the most personal ways, and enough is enough.

I know that as soon as you have a distraction and no one is paying attention, you take the opportunity to lock up the troublemakers for good, but it won’t be that way with Leonardo. I am the guarantee.

I will defend Leo and the political prisoners always. I will do so in every academic and political forum where I speak; I will do so in every journalistic piece I write; and I will do so before international organizations if necessary.

If Leo isn’t released immediately—today—and if he’s charged on some trumped-up charge, I’ll personally take it upon myself to tell this story over and over again with the only weapons I have against injustice: my pen, my voice, and my heart.

And just like me, every single person whose life Leo’s kindness has touched will do the same.

Free Leonardo Romero now. And if you don’t, you’ll end up with another hero behind bars—because that’s exactly what he is. Leonardo Romero Negrín is a silent hero: the hero of the people in his neighborhood, of his students, of everyone who knows him—and especially mine

P.S.: I’m bringing up a painful photo that, for mental health reasons, we had decided not to revisit—the photo of Leo’s arrest on June 11. I’m doing this so you’ll remember how severely Leo Romero has been punished, and that we haven’t forgotten