Press Advisory
Misinformation event sponsored by the Embassy of Cuba in DC cancelled while Washington area Cubans attended Tiananmen Square observance vigil with Chinese dissidents.
Contacts: John Suarez (612)-367-6845 and Janisset Rivero (786)-208-6056
Washington, DC, June 4, 2024. Center for a Free Cuba. Washington area Cubans last night joined together in solidarity with Chinese dissidents at the Victims of Communism’s annual Tiananmen Square Massacre Vigil held at the Victims of Communism Memorial on Capitol Hill. “We did not directly counter-protest the misinformation event hosted by the Cuban embassy where they invited Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America members to a pro-Castro, pro-Hamas propaganda briefing at the Busboys and Poets near Takoma Park. We chose to demonstrate our solidarity with the Chinese pro-democracy movement. We learned after the fact that the event had been cancelled, although news of the cancellation was not publicly shared”, said John Suarez, executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba.
However, the Center did counter the misinformation event with a flyer that asked “Beautiful, but what about Cubans?” that presented information about the dictatorship in Cuba, and the suffering endured by Cubans. This included highlighting the plight of Cuban political prisoners. “Cuba, according to Amnesty International, is more than one thousand political prisoners arbitrarily sentenced to long prison terms for joining other Cubans chanting, “Libertad, Libertad!” and “Down with Communism!”, said the two-pager in part. This fact sheet was distributed over the weekend outside of several Busboys and Poets locations. [ Front and back are attached in this e-mail. ]
On May 30, 2024 the Center for a Free Cuba’s executive director John Suarez sent a letter to Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols, alerting him about the meeting organized by the Cuban Embassy six miles from the White House . At the meeting, representatives of the Cuban dictatorship had publicized they would share their experience “with Palestinian Solidarity and how the two countries have survived against US imperialism”, which is Havana’s double speak for Hamas, the terrorist organization, said the letter.
The letter also asked Undersecretary Nichols if U.S. diplomats in Havana could hold a similar meeting in one of the so-called “mypimes” (the new alleged private businesses) to meet with dissident Cubans, persecuted independent journalists and other actors of change within Cuban society, in light of the exchange policies promoted by the Biden administration with Havana. The letter argued that this raised a question of a lack of reciprocity in Cuba – U.S. relations.
We will not speculate on why the Cuban Embassy’s event was cancelled, but have listed here actions and communications that took place leading up to the June 3rd event that was cancelled.
The Center for a Free Cuba executive director John Suarez appeared in The Guardian in a photo by Alex Wong of Getty Images under the caption, “A man in Washington DC holds a picture of the late Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo during a candlelight vigil to mark the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.”
The attached picture was taken by author, documentary and nature photographer Dan Garrett, who graciously granted permission for its use.
###