A year after the largest anti-government demonstrations in Cuba in several decades, hundreds of people remain detained, waiting for trials or in prison for chanting pro-freedom slogans.
But the July 11 protests — and the ferocious crackdown that followed — have shed light on the Cuban people’s struggle for liberty, called international attention to the human rights crisis on the island and mobilized Cubans around the world in support of pro-democracy efforts.
The “nationwide protests marked a before and after in Cuban history, demonstrating to the international community that Cubans across the island want freedom, an end to the dictatorship, and were willing to risk life and limb to obtain it,” said John Suarez, the executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba, a human rights organization based in Washington.
