More than two hundred people protested this afternoon in the vicinity of the port of Miami against the supposed profits that the Cuban Government obtains from tourist cruises for their own benefit.
As part of the “Do not help repression” campaign, which considers cruises as an “illegal and immoral” form of tourism, Cuban exile members, university students and Anglo-Saxon protesters, urged citizens today not to contribute to the ” exploitation “suffered by workers on the island.
The director of the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, Orlando Gutiérrez, convener of the demonstration and a presentation that also took place at the intersection of Nort East 5th Street and Biscayne Boulevard, told Efe that the protest is part of one of the multiple actions that will take place during the summer.
Gutiérrez said at the press conference that they are currently handling two campaign slogans, “End the gain without conscience” and “Shame against money”, a slogan that was used by the Cuban politician Eduardo Chibás, founder of the Orthodox Party, in the 1940s
The Assembly of the Cuban Resistance has argued over the last few months that the ports and wharves where the cruise companies operate are “properties stolen at gunpoint” by the Cuban regime, to “traffic and exploit”.
As a support, he has installed billboard-sized billboards at various points in Miami.
According to a study published at the end of last year, cruise lines will accumulate more than 761 million dollars in gross revenue until 2019, when transporting more than 570,000 passengers on their routes with stops in Cuba.
Among these are Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian, which were among the first to obtain licenses to operate on the island following the normalization of bilateral relations between the US and Cuba, which began in December 2014, still under the presidency of Barack Obama. .
Gutiérrez said he was struck by the presence of Nicaraguan and Venezuelan protesters living in the city during the protest. He also highlighted the attendance of Cuban political prisoners and that of a group of women who arrived from neighboring Broward County.
“A lot of press came, and the young people who spoke did it very well,” the activist noted.
