Maleconazo at 25: The Havana Uprising of August 5, 1994 that shook the Castro regime

"Freedom did not come that August, but nothing would be the same."- Regis Iglesias, spokesperson, Christian Liberation Movement

On the Avenue of the port in Havana shouts of "Cuba Si, Castro No!"and "Freedom!"

Monday marks 25 years since hundreds of Cubans rose up in Havana in a call for freedom that shook the Castro regime. In the early hours of August 5, 1994 Cubans began to gather near the Malecon and as the hours passed and the promise of freedom was met with repression the numbers swelled into a huge protest. The video below offers a partial accounting - brief snippets- of what took place. This uprising would become known as the Maleconazo.

State Security agent points his gun at protesters on August 5, 1994

Cubans marched through the streets of Havana chanting "Freedom!"and "Down With Castro!" They were met with brutal repression, including regime agents shooting at unarmed demonstrators. Years later photographs taken by a tourist confirmed the anecdotal accounts of that day. Regis Iglesias described how the dictatorship militarized the streets in an effort to terrorize the populace:  

A convoy of trucks crammed with repressive special troops and a vehicle with a 50 caliber machine gun on top patrolled up and down the long street.

 Little has been reported on this, but some of the images and sounds remain. This combined with testimony of those who were there provide a better idea of what took place.

"Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future." - Elie Wiesel  


What happened?
Five hundred of the Cubans had arrived at the Havana sea wall (El Malecon) to board a launch that was rumored was going to be taken to Miami.  These people were not seeking to overthrow the dictatorship but did want to live in freedom. They were met by the Castro dictatorship's state security agents using force who told the crowd to disperse. Instead of diffusing the situation another 500 Cubans joined in and  they began to march along the Malecon chanting "Freedom!"and "Down With Castro! After marching for a kilometer, a hundred Special Brigade members and plain clothes police confronted the protesters.  

State security agents aim their guns at protesters on August 5, 1994

What is amazing is that 20 years later and the full details of what transpired remain unknown the pictures of regime officials pointing their handguns at the demonstrators combined with reports of the sounds of gun fire and wounded protesters have echoed down through the years in anecdotal stories about that day.  

The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting" - Milan Kundera 

Ignacio M. Montero: Present at Maleconazo

 Eyewitness account  
The testimony of Ignacio Martínez Montero posted on la Voz del Morro allegedly gives a first hand account of what happened that day:

Then came the year 94 one hot August of that year's day, I'd arrived at my mother in laws home in Cuba and Chacón in the heart of Old Havana, near the Malecón, for that reason alone, after visiting my mother in law, I sat , like many, on the wall of the bay, very close to where still today the famous Casablanca launch travels in and out. That year was turbulent, constantly talking about boats diverted to Miami, and the tugboat. Maybe that's why the special brigade trucks arrived and attacked all of us who were sitting.

Our response to this aggression was only to clamor for freedom. It has been said that we threw stones; but all that is a lie, the truth was that we were tired of so much aggression and without agreeing to we began to walk together screaming, Enough, Down with the revolution ... And before reaching Hotel Deauville, a battalion waited for us that attacked us with sticks and iron rods. It was they who made the big mess. They broke my left eyebrow and left me semi-lame. Yes, there were assaults and the aggressors had guns, but not among the civilians. One of the boys who went with us, who was called the Moor, even while handcuffed, they shot him in the torso and it was a miracle that he did not die. Who do you think paid for that? No one.

They put us in a truck where they received us with beatings only to convince us to scream "Viva Fidel." They took us to the police station located at L and Malecon. Hours later I was taken to Calixto García hospital. There they attended to my foot and I treated the eyebrow wound; the medical certificate, never appeared. From there we boarded another bus and were taken to the prison 15/80, I could say "kidnapped" because nobody knew where we were. Some kids and nephews of my dad, who were with us, were released immediately. A boy could not take it and ended up hanged. No one learned of this; but we are many the witnesses who know what really happened that August 5th 1994, the day of Maleconazo.

It is also important to recall on the evening of August 5, 1994, the dictator, Fidel Castro took to the airwaves to justify and defend the "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre that had taken place on July 13, 1994. 

Police and plainclothes in Cuba detaining a demonstrator on August 5, 1994

Twenty five years later and the Castro regime remains in power terrorizing, beating, torturing and murdering nonviolent dissidents in Cuba and Venezuela.

Political police with baton takes away a prisoner.

Twenty five years later the spirit of freedom and resistance lives on in Cuba and one day Cubans will win back their country and their freedom.