MADRID:Cuban protest leader Yunior Garcia and his wife landed at Madrid’s Barajas airport on Wednesday afternoon, the dissident said on social media, putting an end to uncertainty over his whereabouts.
The young playwright took a commercial flight to Spain after the communist-run government blocked a major protest he had helped plan for Monday. He fell silent shortly after on social media, sparking concerns among fellow activists over his safety.
“We have arrived in Spain, alive, healthy and with our ideas intact,” Garcia said on a post on Facebook. “We must thank the many people who made this trip possible.”
According to sources familiar with his travels, the government of Spain granted Garcia a 90-day visa for “reasons of force majeure or necessity.” Government sources had previously said that he had entered on a tourist visa.
Garcia said on social media that he was seeking information on other members of his Archipielago protest group.
“Very soon I will tell the story of this odyssey,” he said.
Cuba’s government, in newscasts and programs on state-run and social media in the weeks prior to Monday’s planned protest, had said it had evidence Garcia was working covertly with the United States to overthrow the state.
Garcia and the U.S. government have denied that charge.
State security and Cuban government supporters on Sunday surrounded Garcia’s Havana home, preventing him from marching alone, as he had planned to build support for peaceful demonstrations.
Cuban authorities on Saturday revoked the credentials of Spanish news agency EFE in Havana, but approvals for four of six of its staff were reinstated by Wednesday, EFE said.
Garcia became a central figure in Cuba’s dissident movement following protests in July that drew thousands onto the streets to demonstrate against shortages of basic goods, curbs on civil liberties and the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
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