Cuban opposition leader denounces unprecedented increase in violence on the island

By Daniel Castropé

Adel López Napoles

Photo / Alvaro Mata

The executive director of the Republican Party of Cuba, Adel López Napoles, stated in Miami that cases of violence among inhabitants on the Caribbean island have increased and the government is trying to hide it.

MIAMI (Diario Las Americas) – The situation of desperation and hopelessness that prevails on the Caribbean island is generating an unprecedented wave of violence “that the Castro regime is trying to hide,” said Adel López, executive director of the Republican Party of Cuba, in Miami.

During a visit to DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS, the Cuban opposition member stated that in recent days several deaths have been recorded due to strangulation or the use of bladed weapons, resulting from the appalling living conditions of many Cubans in the largest of the Antilles.

López also said that, contrary to what some Cubans predicted, after the restoration of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba and the visit of former President Barack Obama, the government's repression of the opposition is now greater.

The opposition leader added that shortages on the island have reached unsustainable levels and urged measures that would allow Cubans to use the land to increase food production on the island.

Meanwhile, López, who was leaving for Cuba at noon on Thursday, pointed out that the eventual succession of ruler Raúl Castro in 2018, giving way to his son, Colonel Alejandro Castro Espín, would be "very counterproductive for democracy".

“Nothing has changed in Cuba with the Castros in power; there is more violence, more hunger, more repression, and less space for democracy,” the opposition leader concluded.