Cadal praises the work of Mauro Reina, who publicly condemned the repression
14ymedio, Havana, 9 July 2024 — The former ambassador of Switzerland to Cuba, Mauro Reina, who publicly condemned the police repression during the protests of 11 July 2021 (11J), received the Award for Diplomacy Committed to Human Rights on Tuesday. From Buenos Aires, where the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (Cadal) has its headquarters, he celebrated the support of the people who were “democratic referents” during the demonstrations and who ended up in “forced exile.”
Reina, born in 1964, resident on the Island from 2019 to 2023, witnessed the repressive wave of the regime after 11J. He dedicated his prize to the “Cubans who fight for a better future despite the risks they face in their freedom and security.”
Cadal remembers the series of messages sent on the social network X by the Embassy of Switzerland in Havana after the protests. The first of them, published on July 15, expressed the Embassy’s “concern” over the events and unambiguously demanded respect for “freedom of assembly and expression.” It was one of the first institutions to call for the release of political prisoners and to directly ask the authorities for an “inclusive dialogue” with the protesters.
He dedicated his prize to the “Cubans who fight for a better future despite the risks to their freedom and security”
The Embassy also publicly lamented the exile of jurist Julio Antonio Fernández Estrada, a “close contact” of the diplomatic headquarters. In the same message it condemned the stampede of professionals and citizens who, due to their opposition to the regime, had felt forced to leave the country.
Fernández, who was until recently in the Academics at Risk Program of Harvard University, congratulated Reina on the award and said he had been an “example” of a diplomat committed “to his responsibilities to his government and to his respect and sensitivit
