Press Releases

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) honored the brave protestors who three years ago today launched the historic Cuban pro-democracy protests on July 11, 2021. She was joined by Reps. María Elvira Salazar (FL-27), Carlos Gimenez (FL-28), Rob Menendez (NJ-08), and Cuban activist Carolina Barrero.

Click here for Wasserman Schultz’s complete remarks.

“The mission to assist Cuba’s pro-democracy movement has certainly taken on a new level of urgency since July 11, 2021, when the world watched as tens of thousands of Cubans took to the streets to demand freedom,” said Wasserman Schultz. “We must all stand together, in a bipartisan manner, to arm the American people with the truth about Cuba’s cruel dictatorship and take action to uplift the Cuban people’s democratic aspirations.”

Wasserman Schultz co-chairs the Cuba Democracy Caucus and is a founding co-chair of the Victims of Communism Caucus. She also announced in November that she would advocate for Maykel “Osorbo” Castillo Pérez and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, both of whom have been jailed for nearly three years, as part of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission’s Defending Freedoms Project. Wasserman Schultz is the first Member of Congress to sponsor Cuban prisoners of conscience under the Defending Freedoms Project. 

The July 2021 protests were the largest pro-democracy demonstrations in Cuba in decades. Wasserman Schultz was joined by Carolina Barrero, an art historian and human rights activist who was exiled from Cuba as a result of her advocacy. She took part in the protests that challenged Cuba’s totalitarian regime in 2021 as a member of the 27N movement of artists and intellectuals and the San Isidro Movement.

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