May Day in Cuba: Remembering when the dictatorship's scripted march met a spontaneous act of freedom

The price of freedom.

May 1, 2017 in Havana, Cuba Daniel Llorente with an American flag calls for freedom

There is nothing to celebrate on May Day in Cuba. Workers in Cuba are jailed for exercising their rights: The right to strike is prohibited. 2) Voluntary collective bargaining does not exist. 3) Cubans are sent to work abroad and the Castro regime takes up to 90-95% of their earnings and trade unionists are jailed for trying to organize independent and free unions.

Today, Cuba's Civic Plaza later renamed the Plaza of the Revolution under the Castro regime is silent, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, but three years ago during a May Day Parade something unexpected happened that caught the communist dictatorship by surprise.

A lone Cuban wrapped in a flag of the United States burst out running in front of the march. He was quickly tackled down by secret police, beaten up and taken away.

This lone protester exposed the repressive nature of the Castro regime in Cuba. Daniel Llorente Miranda, then age 53, an independent dissident, not belonging to any organization, engaged in a seconds long run  with an American flag in front of the Castro regime's May Day gathering in the "Revolutionary Plaza" in Havana shouting "freedom for the people of Cuba." He  was charged with "public disorder and resistance."
Things took a more sinister turn when weeks later Daniel Llorente Miranda was transferred to the Comandante Dr. Bernabé Ordaz Ducungé Psychiatric Hospital better known by its pre-revolutionary name Mazorra.Using psychiatric facilities to torture dissidents is a practice that originated in the Soviet Union but was adopted early on by the revolutionary Cuban government's intelligence services. Worse yet, it was this facility's neglect that caused the death of 26 patients from exposure in 2010.

Eliezer Llorente is the victim of a "preventive arrest" for supporting his dad.

When you defy the Castro regime it is not you alone that are targeted, but your family, especially if they continue to associate with you, and visit  you. Eliezer Llorente was arrested by the Cuban political police on April 29, 2018 in San Antonio de los Baños, Artemisa in Cuba. Eliezer was 18 years old and he had spent the past year visiting his imprisoned dad. The arrest was called a "preventive arrest."

Both father and son were both finally released days later in May 2018, but Daniel Llorente Miranda was warned to remain silent. He continued to speak out for freedom, and in May 2019 he was picked up by the secret police in the early morning hours and was taken to the airport and placed on a flight to Guyana with the threat that if he returned to Cuba he would be disappeared.

This is the price of speaking out in Cuba. This is the price of freedom. Let us remember Daniel Llorente Miranda and his family on May Day, and his courageous stand for liberty.

Labor union organizers are jailed today in Cuba, and courageous human rights defenders speak up for them, and face the danger of prison or being forcibly exiled from their homeland and their family by a despotic dictatorship.

#Cuba #ThisIsMyHome this 1st of May two independent trade unionists are still in prison Alexey Rodríguez & William Cruz@DiazCanelB release them NOW! #YesToFreeLaborUnions #YesToStrikes @ADS_Americas @CubaSindicatos
@ines_colombia @chocolatazo11 @ACabrera31
@CubaSindicatos https://t.co/hbCI4VOUMG

— Center for Free Cuba (@cubacenter) May 1, 2020

May Day in Cuba 2018: The price of dissent and being a good son

Like father, like son - unjustly imprisoned for acts of conscience. 

May 1, 2017 in Havana, Cuba Daniel Llorente with an American flag calls for freedom

Eliezer Llorente was arrested by the Cuban political police on April 29, 2018 in San Antonio de los Baños, Artemisa in Cuba. Eliezer is 18 years old and he has spent the past year visiting his imprisoned dad who is a political prisoner. The arrest is being called a "preventive arrest."

Eliezer Llorente is the victim of a "preventive arrest" for supporting his dad.

Last year on May 1, 2017 a lone protester exposed the repressive nature of the Castro regime in Cuba. Daniel Llorente Miranda, age 53, an independent dissident, not belonging to any organization, engaged in a seconds long run  with an American flag in front of the Castro regime's May Day gathering in the "Revolutionary Plaza" in Havana shouting "freedom for the people of Cuba." He was tackled down, beaten up and taken away by the secret police.  He's been jailed since May 1, 2017, and was charged with "public disorder and resistance."



Things took a more sinister turn when weeks later Daniel Llorente Miranda was transferred to the Comandante Dr. Bernabé Ordaz Ducungé Psychiatric Hospital better known by its pre-revolutionary name Mazorra.Using psychiatric facilities to torture dissidents is a practice that originated in the Soviet Union but was adopted early on by the revolutionary Cuban government's intelligence services.

On May Day 2018 both father and son are in prison fasting to protest the unjust imprisonment of this young man who over the past year has visited his father in prison and spoken out for him to the international media.

Cuban dissident sent to the madhouse of death for defying regime

The price of dissent in totalitarian Cuba today

Daniel Llorente running with an American flag chased by secret police on May Day

On May Day 2017 Daniel Llorente Miranda (age 52) a Cuban dissident unfurled an American flag and ran in front of the official gathering in Havana, Cuba. The image captured by international media captured the imagination of many around the world. It was a symbol of freedom and of defiance by a Cuba who understands that "Freedom begins in the mind and that is something that has to change in Cubans, they are afraid to tell the truth. The truth is that in Cuba there is a system where the biggest beneficiary is the government. The people work and benefit the State." Moments later he was tackled down by state security agents and quickly whisked away.

Daniel Llorente knocked down by political police and about to be roughed up

He was charged with "public disorder and resistance" and was initially held at the Technical Department of Investigations of the Police in 100 and Aldabó and the official media slandered his courageous action as an "annexationist dialogue." 

Things took a more sinister turn when over three weeks ago Daniel Llorente Miranda was transferred to the Comandante Dr. Bernabé Ordaz Ducungé Psychiatric Hospital better known by its pre-revolutionary name Mazorra.

Using psychiatric facilities to torture dissidents is a practice that originated in the Soviet Union but was adopted early on by the Castro regime's intelligence services. In the Cuban case Mazorra is a madhouse of death were patients have died by the score from exposure to the elements and neglect by hospital staff.

Cuba's National Psychiatric Hospital "Mazorra"

Daniel Llorente Miranda has been terrorized, responded by going on hunger strike and is now requesting to be exiled. This is the price of dissent in totalitarian Cuba. When you defy the dictatorship you risk: arbitrary detention, death or exile.

Daniel is imprisoned and his life is in danger. He carried out a series of protests and risked all to try to raise the conscience of Cubans and their desire for freedom. The price he is paying is a steep one and he is asking for international solidarity and asylum.

Three of 26 patients who died of exposure in 2010 in Cuba

 
 

Cuban May Day Flag Protester Daniel Llorente remains jailed, now faces political show trial

"Freedom begins in the mind and that is something that has to change in Cubans, they are afraid to tell the truth." - Daniel Llorente Miranda

Daniel Llorente Miranda, age 52, jailed and facing show trial in Cuba

 
 The man who defied the Castro regime and exposed its totalitarian nature on May Day has been identified and his name is Daniel Llorente Miranda, age 52 and a taxi driver. He is an independent dissident, not belonging to any organization.  He's been jailed since May 1, 2017, now charged with "public disorder and resistance" for his seconds long run  with an American flag in front of the Castro regime's May Day gathering in the "Revolutionary Plaza" in Havana shouting "freedom for the people of Cuba" before being tackled down, beaten up and taken away by the secret police.

His son, Eliécer Llorente Pérez, was finally able to see him for ten minutes on Friday, May 5, 2017 and reports that his father in is good spirits and being held at the Technical Department of Investigations of the Police in 100 and Aldabó [Departamento Técnico de Investigaciones de la Policía en 100 y Aldabó]

The dictatorship's official media mouthpiece Granma, with out identifying him, declared his protest a "annexationist monologue" and sought to slander Daniel Llorente in an editorial. But what the official media writes about this independent activist does not match up with his past statements and actions.

Daniel had protested peacefully at least three times before with the American flag. When President Barack Obama arrived in Havana last March he could be seen carrying the flag, again when cruise ship Adonia docked in Cuba on May 2, 2016 and on August 31, 2017 at the Santa Clara airport when commercial flights between the United States and Cuba started up again.

Independent journalist Augusto Cesar San Martin had interviewed the independent Cuban dissident in December of 2016 and his civic consciousness and courage come across:

"Freedom begins in the mind and that is something that has to change in Cubans, they are afraid to tell the truth. The truth is that in Cuba there is a system where the biggest beneficiary is the government. The people work and benefit the State."

In another interview with the same journalist Daniel Llorento explained "It's my right to go anywhere in Cuba with the flag of the United States. ... That is my way of expressing  myself and it does not hurt anyone."

Please call your Congressman and Senators in Washington DC and ask them to contact the Cuban Embassy in Washington DC and ask for Daniel Llorento's release.  This free man living in Cuba should not be imprisoned for exercising a fundamental human right.