Demonstrators in support of widespread demonstrations erupting in Cuba blocked a Bellaire intersection briefly on Tuesday evening, hours after a similar protest halted northbound traffic on the Southwest Freeway near Chimney Rock.
Several hundred protesters, many of them from Houston’s Cuban community, gathered on Tuesday afternoon at a Sharpstown parking lot where people have rallied daily since Sunday. As the sun set over the PlazAmericas shopping complex, part of the crowd swarmed onto Bellaire Boulevard as others erupted into cheers and hoisted Cuban flags into the air.
“Cuba en el calle - Houston también!” the crowd chanted at traffic. Cuba is in the streets - and so is Houston.
Several protesters held a long banner across the intersection painted with an anti-Cuban government slogan and a plea to help those protesting in Cuba. At first, people hastily moved off the street during green lights, pushed back by traffic officers. But soon the crowd surged past the police line and began sitting down on the crosswalk, blocking traffic for several minutes.
“They took to the streets spontaneously,” said participant Martha Hevia, referring to protests in major Cuban cities where people blocked highways and clashed with police to protest economic hardship, food and medicine shortages, and rising coronavirus infections.
“We want to let them know they’re not alone,” said Hevia, who said her father-in-law was pepper sprayed while protesting in Cuba. “Stay on the streets - we are with you.”
The Associated Press reported Cuban authorities confirmed Tuesday that one person has died during the demonstrations in Cuba. Hevia and others at the Sharpstown rally played videos shared on social media that appeared to show Cuban police officers scaling a highway ramp to beat a restrained protester.
On Tuesday, President Biden said the U.S. “stands firmly” with the Cuban people amid protests against the island nation’s government.
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Many people at the rally said they hoped to get the attention of the federal government. Some wanted the Biden administration to lift a 2019 ban on private boat trips to Cuba - a move they said would make it legal for Cuban Americans to sail to the island with supplies. Others wanted direct military intervention by the U.S. to overthrow the Cuban government.
“I don’t know if Biden is going to help us - or if he’s going to let us go help,” Hevia said. “I’m sorry for the (Southwest Freeway) traffic, but we have to make some noise because people are being assassinated.”
Some participants expressed frustration that they could not be with their families or reach them online. As protests escalated in Cuba on Monday, social media and internet access were disabled in much of the country, limiting the ability of demonstrators to organize.
As if to compensate, dozens of people livestreamed the Sharpstown rally to social media, urging others to spread the word. Some participants vowed to keep rallying as long as protests in Cuba continue.
“Yesterday we protested — tomorrow we’ll do it again,” said Hevia. “Here in Houston, we’re trying our best.”
charlie.zong@chron.com
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