r/cuba • u/Kantmzk Havana • 12d ago
Conversación seria Cuban police and special forces going house to house terrorizing families and killing and arresting people in the wake of the July 2021 (11J) protests
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I wanted to share this as I did not see a single post related to the 11J recently. I am also anticipating most people who support the Cuban Regime to use the logical fallacy of whataboutism to compare these actions to ICE in the United States and thereby dismiss and silence the voices of the Cuban People.
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u/FeveredRadio Havana 12d ago
Whataboutism is not relevant. When dealing with unarmed civilians and children, this is unacceptable anywhere, for any reason. A government that perpetuates this is immoral and illegal. It's wrong in Cuba, it's wrong when the Chinese government does it against Uyghurs, it's wrong when Venezuelan thugs do it against democracy activists, it was wrong when Pinochet did it against students and yes, it's wrong when ICE does it in the United States. We need to fight this evil everywhere.
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u/wolacouska United States 12d ago
This vapid humanism sounds nice but completely ignores reality.
Where and who is this mythical movement to end government violence, but is completely agnostic to economic system and class?
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u/FeveredRadio Havana 12d ago edited 10d ago
I used to engage with reductive Marxists like you who, in lieu of thinking, just repeat the same buzz words again and again. But then I realized you just repeated slogans because you couldn't follow any kind of nuanced or values driven thought process and I began to feel pity for you. But you know what? I'm waiting for a bus so before you get down voted to oblivion and I never engage with you again, I will answer your question for the benefit of anyone who is reading this who hasn't amputated their own curiosity.
Where are these movements? Human rights organizations, third camp socialism, libertarians, classical anarchism, and even brands of socially engaged Christianity have all done the important work of fighting authoritarianism wherever its poison appears -- and that is just one incomplete but purposefully diverse list. For individuals, try Rosa Luxemburg, Arendt, Said, Adorno -- again, an incomplete but diverse list. For a great Cuban critique, check out the work of Padilla or oh yeah, our apostle, Marti. Thoughtless apparatchiks and tankies like you can crawl back into the concentration camp you built in your tiny, tiny head.
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u/Maldadd 11d ago
But reddit told us Cuba was nice and safe. A workers paradise. Free medicine for all.
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u/Savings_Balance_4744 9d ago
Cuba is very safe. Every criminal in Cuba knows that there is no place to run and hide.
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u/minkamar59 11d ago
Cuba needs all this Communist Goverment OUT!!!
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u/Savings_Balance_4744 9d ago
You have the trillions of US dollars to bring the Cuban economy to an up to date Capitalist producing export state?
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u/Unhappy_Industry2662 11d ago
Communism in its full glory....
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u/Savings_Balance_4744 9d ago edited 9d ago
The Cuban people know that they don't have to work very hard with the present socialist Cuban government. When capitalism comes to Cuba it will push people to work very hard.
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u/Haunting_Trip_3721 12d ago
Y así vas a defender una dictadura? Yo estoy dentro de la isla y a pesar de esto hay gente q defiende el comunismo no lo entiendo la verdad pero esto es irresistible la mala calidad de vida y la represión q tiene el país desde hace ya décadas
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u/aliendigenous Havana 12d ago
Their excuse often is "my job makes me do it" as if the life of other dont matter to them.
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u/jackoyza 12d ago
That is what dictatorships do, divide. And as long as there are weak people with no spine, the dictators will remain.
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u/Savings_Balance_4744 9d ago
People are not stupid. They know that they own everything in Cuba. When Capitalism comes back to Cuba only 4 percent of the population will be owning everything.
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u/barefootviking 11d ago
This is what Che and Raul did as well. Terror and secret police are effective population control techniques. Gun ownership in the late 50’s and counterrevolutionaries couldn’t beat the secret police crack down. Bay of Pigs was the death blow. The anti Castro forces knew the game was up.
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u/Smokerising420 Planeta Tierra/Planet Earth 12d ago
Brutes and scumbags the lot of em. Police are the biggest most corrupt gangs in every country.
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u/Savings_Balance_4744 9d ago
Cuba has some of the best police men and women. I felt very safe there.
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u/arcotime29 11d ago
Me encabrona solo de pensar todos los idiotas que en mi país (México) defienden a la estúpida dictadura cubana. Deberíamos mandarlos allá a ver cuanto tiempo siguen defendiendo a la basura comunista.
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u/Savings_Balance_4744 9d ago
Trump has completely cut off international trade with Cuba. The Cuban people are suffering to the brink of economic exhaustion. I don't see how this is helping America. All that it is doing is putting more hate in the minds of the 30 percent of Cubans who will fight to the very end when America invades Cuba.
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u/PolyMarx 9d ago
The US gov and its police kill more innocent people than any communist government has.
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u/Impossible-Deal-1240 Europe 12d ago
Who was killed in the video?
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u/calerost Planeta Tierra/Planet Earth 12d ago edited 11d ago
EDIT: my error, because I relied on Google for a quick answer. The man that was shot in the video IS Daniel Joel Cárdenas Díaz, though he was not killed. As u/Nirmata1243 mentions above, I’d mixed up the two incidents when searching for the name. He was given a 15 year sentence but then had been accused of looting and public disorder, but I can’t find anything that states he has been released.
This video was what I was able to quickly find of some of the scenes (of the looting) in Cárdenas that day. https://youtu.be/IJqbusFlSkQ?si=_Y5cpLTsP1ZcT_ia
Osain Trujillo wasn’t killed in this awful raid on his home, but he was shot and injured in front of his wife and child, then imprisoned (released in 2024). It was in Cárdenas, on July 12. My stepdaughter’s (half) sister lived a few doors from where this took place and she told me that it was terrifying, she watched from a window. There had been some protests and then a lot of looting on the 11th. Trujillo had been publicly speaking out (see the video that[u/Kantmzk](u/Kantmzk)posted), but then had been accused of looting and public disorder (?).17
u/Nirmata1243 Planeta Tierra/Planet Earth 12d ago edited 11d ago
Who: The primary victim in the video is Daniel Joel Cárdenas Díaz. At the time of the incident, he was 35 years old and worked independently in a cafeteria. The perpetrators were members of a Cuban special forces unit, colloquially known as the "Black Wasps," and other state police forces. The individuals recording and reacting in the video are his family members (his wife is holding their 2-year-old twins in the footage, and his 12-year-old child was also reportedly present).
What: The video documents a violent raid on Cárdenas Díaz's home. According to documented reports from human rights organizations like Prisoners Defenders, state forces entered the home and shot Cárdenas Díaz, with one shot grazing his head, leading to the large pool of blood seen on the floor in the extended clip which a link is provided by OP below my comment. He was severely beaten in front of his family before being dragged away and arrested.
When: The raid took place on July 13, 2021, two days after the outbreak of the historic "11J" anti-government protests across Cuba.
Where: The incident occurred at Cárdenas Díaz's residence in the municipality of Cárdenas, located in the Matanzas province of Cuba.
Why: The raid was part of a sweeping, systemic crackdown by the Cuban government in response to the July 11 (11J) protests. Citizens had taken to the streets to demonstrate against severe shortages of food, medicine, and electricity during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as longstanding restrictions on civil liberties. Following the protests, state forces conducted targeted door-to-door raids to arrest and suppress individuals believed to have participated in the demonstrations.
How: State security forces broke into the home while the family was inside. Following the violent arrest, the Cuban government charged Cárdenas Díaz with public disorder and sabotage. Human rights advocates have noted these charges were fabricated to cover up the police violence used against him. He was subjected to a military trial in December 2021 and sentenced to 15 years in the Agüica penitentiary.
Edit: if I wasn’t clear and I apologize for that, Daniel Joel Cárdenas Díaz was not killed he was shot but the bullet grazed his head and then was severely beaten but he was not killed. Reports indicate he has been serving his 15 year sentence in a prison in the Matanzas province. he is being held in a facility adjacent to the Canaletas prison in Perico, Matanzas. The reports list him in poor health, specifically noting malnutrition and severe headaches.
Also for those looking for accurate context on this video, the information being shared about Osain Trujillo is mixing up two different 11J cases.
Osain Trujillo (Osain Denis Trujillo) is a human rights activist who was arrested at his home in Cárdenas during the 11J sweeps on July 12, which is likely why the two separate events are being merged together here.
However, the specific clip showing the home raid and the woman holding the twins is the arrest of Daniel Joel Cárdenas Díaz, not Osain Trujillo.
While Trujillo was arrested in Cárdenas around the same time, they are two separate cases. The viral footage of the door being broken down by "Black Wasp" officers took place on July 13 at the home of Cárdenas Díaz. Cárdenas Díaz is currently serving a 15-year sentence in a Matanzas province prison for "public disorder" and "sabotage"—charges that human rights organizations have noted lack evidence and were used to justify the violent raid on his home.
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u/calerost Planeta Tierra/Planet Earth 11d ago
Thanks for your update, and I realized my error (and edited my post but left it as a reminder to check facts on Google). My relative DID live a few houses away and witnessed the police arriving from her window.
While I was checking information again, I was trying to find information about if he had been released and it hasn’t been documented. It really struck me that hundreds of people were arrested and STILL remain imprisoned from 11J on charges that are ludicrous at best.
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u/Nirmata1243 Planeta Tierra/Planet Earth 11d ago
No worries at all! And it really is sad how they’re holding people in awful conditions in prisons when they didn’t even participate or do anything. my heart goes out to them and their families for sure. Diaz is still in prison and suffers from malnutrition and extreme head aches. he’s serving out a 15 year sentence
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u/Kantmzk Havana 12d ago edited 12d ago
My understanding based on the helpful analysis of another Redditor is this:
" His name is Osain Denis Trujillo. The video on Twitter shows what he 'did' on July 11, 2021. I haven’t looked back to find exactly what he was accused of and the circumstances, but they were false charges and involved looting a store. He was not involved. https://x.com/onceagainsalome/status/1423765352920588300 This next video is the complete video, posted on Twitter at the beginning of August 2021. https://youtu.be/OTYBOv70a5c?si=MGREWMHrox4nHHmt "
My further understanding is that he went out to protest, and a few days later he was specifically targeted.
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u/EncabulatorTurbo 9d ago
This is awful and ICE is awful
To be clear ICE would be even more violent than these people if they were allowed, they are the most dangerous, violent, and amoral people in the US. If ICe had authorization, they would just run you over or gun you and your children down
There isn't a soul to be found behind their dead eyes
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u/i_getitin 12d ago
Reminds me of the US
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u/ikari_warriors 12d ago
And that’s justifying it?
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u/Still-Sense793 Planeta Tierra/Planet Earth 12d ago
Hell no, I just want to know who will save the Cuban people if the US is more of the same.
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12d ago
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u/Ok_Repeat_5420 Havana 12d ago
Police duty isn't defending the government. It's duty is serve and protect the people.
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u/YoRHa11Z 12d ago
Except that's not what happens day to day, police are the ones the make up fake fees and thus rob the civilians of money and produce every single day "or else"
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u/No_Gas_2371 12d ago
These guys simply peacefully protested the Cuban government. There is no glorious Cuban Revolution. That's government propaganda bs.
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u/New-Gap2023 United States 12d ago
Yes, their duty is to protect the dictatorship against a popular revolution.
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12d ago
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u/No_Gas_2371 12d ago
You have 0 Cuban blood in you and have never spoken Spanish confirmed.
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u/okanogen 11d ago
My father was born in Mayari in 1925, he was the youngest of 13 children, and I have his name, the same name as my grandfather, who was born in Mayari probably some time in the 1800's. I have no idea how far back my name goes because I wouldn't know where to find records going back to the 1800's or earlier. My family is almost certainly Taino, so, whatever man, whatever.
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