Today is August 5th and for the Cuban people and lovers of freedom everywhere is a date that shows that decades of totalitarian oppression cannot extinguish the spirit of freedom. On August 5th 1994, the people of Havana, Cuba spontaneously took to the streets demanding a free Cuba and shouting “Down with Fidel!” It was an event that came to be known as the “Maleconazo” named after the place where it all started, Havan’s famous Malecon. This act was not widely reported because of the Cuban regime’s censorship, but it showed that there was massive discontent with a government that brutally represses its own people. It resulted in thousands of arrests and a realization by the Castro regime that they needed to appease the population before a popular revolution overthrew them. This discontent continues to exist to this day and the Castro regime will routinely smash opposition figures, peaceful dissenters, and anything that smells like being pro-democracy or pro-human rights in order to preempt any popular uprising.

Currently, the administration is moving towards easing its policy on the Cuban regime, but it is not aware that, like in Iran, the people are fed up with decades of non-representation, decades of arbitrary imprisonment, decades of oppression, and decades of living in the darkness. All that the Cuban people need is a little bit of help, a little bit of organization, and a little bit of moral support for them to finally rise up once and for all and put an end to the totalitarian nightmare that is currently threatening Venezuela, Bolivia, and the other Latin American nations that have been hijacked by socialism. So this day, we should commemorate the Maleconazo and realize that while we enjoy freedom in this country, there are millions around the world that fight for it every day. Let’s not abandon them.

Viva Cuba Libre!

-AG