Holguín: Chronicle of resistance
- Written by Germán Veloz Placencia / Granma
- Published in Holguin
- Hits: 883
Despite the threat, Susana holds her poster of Fidel tightly and up high. She is furious and refuses to leave the first line of defense, at the headquarters of the Communist Party of Cuba Provincial Committee, in Holguín.
Minutes before, a few members of the crowd which initially called for calm, like those arriving now, tried unsuccessfully to snatch the poster from her.
Men from this last group of provocateurs have supposedly agreed not to approach the building beyond an indicated distance, but they are making signs to the women with them and they charge. Everything is calculated, but they fail in the first attack on the building.
The situation changes abruptly. An aggressive mob, that appeared coming from the Piedra Blanca area, managed to gather in front of the main entrance. For Susana and her companions, it no longer makes sense to remain in the street, where they had been defending the Party headquarters. The decision is to support the three law enforcement officers who, along with the usual guard, move to reinforce one of the vehicle entrances to the building. Preventing the crowd from entering from this side becomes their mission.
Two motorcyclists approach the barrier and attempt to confuse us, by appealing to our symbols and spouting programmed lies. The most forward among them is the most active. "If he were alive - pointing to Susana's photo of Fidel - this situation would not be occurring. Don't support Díaz-Canel (plus a vulgar epitaph). Take our side. The police in Matanzas have already joined those of us in the streets. No need to use force, this is a peaceful demonstration."
Suddenly there is a skirmish in the front of the building, where most of the defiant are concentrated. This is followed by a brutal barrage of rocks thrown at the workers and officials protecting the building. The attackers have stones in backpacks, bags and pockets, while those who no longer have any look for loose pavers on the path that leads to the Plaza de la Revolución Mayor General Calixto García. Working together, some break the tiles, while others resume the aggression.
The provocateurs are out for blood. From their position, Susana's group sees their comrades, under attack, retreating toward the building's lobby. The rocks hit walls and break windows, and damage the windshield of a vehicle belonging to the few law enforcement officers who have firmly withstood the attack with the staff.
Emboldened, a few rioters prepare to advance toward the building. A young woman in shorts harangues the group, telling them to show no mercy. It's pure hysteria. "This has to stop now," she shouts. Others support her. And many record what is happening with their cell phones, their "heroism."
Suddenly, the aggressive mob begins a disorganized retreat. Someone, among their ranks, has announced in panic the arrival of a contingent of law enforcement officers. Now the attackers run and think only of not being overtaken, but a group is captured. The newly arrived reinforcement is joined by the defenders of the Party headquarters, including several still bleeding and despite injuries caused by rocks thrown just minutes before.
A blonde woman who was calling for lynching is one of those intercepted. She demands that the law enforcement officers respect her because she is a woman, resorting to a standard dissuasion strategy of those who recognize they are lost. She is rebutted by an angry, darker-skinned female officer who went after those desperately fleeing. "Don't touch her, I'll take her," she says. The ringleader, completely demoralized, lowers her head and gives up the resistance.
The atmosphere is heated. Who can help it? Two police officers restrain one of those captured. Defenders of the arrested man appear. They are part of those who gathered in front of the Party headquarters and claim they were not aggressive. But at this moment their intervention seems suspicious. Someone among those who had been on the building’s line of defense questioned them: What did you do to prevent others from throwing rocks? They outrageously criticize the behavior of law enforcement, and there is no longer any doubt that they are seeking attention. They have a clear, detailed objective. They do not deviate from the previously prepared script.
A tense calm ensues as the scene continues to unfold. Of those at the main entrance, the report is that Amado was evacuated with a huge head wound; Neris has a swollen ankle and one of Teresa's legs is gushing blood. Of those who withstood the first attack, in the rotunda, by the building’s left wing, Eddy's arm was broken, while Salazar and Aldo, furious at a gang of attackers who knocked them down and kicked them on the ground, refuse to put themselves in the hands of the doctors, insisting they will remain in combat position.
"We have more injured," Polanco says, but many are more attentive to the captured troublemakers, who are taken to a vehicle that will transport them to a law enforcement agency to be charged and brought to justice. They walk away meekly, with no hint of aggression. It seems that they are beginning to understand that they were manipulated by the calls for hatred made on social networks from the United States and other outposts of enemies of the Revolution.
They thought that in a few hours they would be supported by Yankee troops and armed men arriving in flotillas from Miami, but now they know that they were carried away by delusions.
They call for a meeting on the front steps of the Party headquarters, where the attack was most brutal. The defenders and a group of recently arrived comrades intone the notes of the National Anthem. There, at one side, is Susana. Only once was she seen without her poster of Fidel, and that was when she hid it in a safe place, to go out after the fleeing assailants with her comrades. She raises it now, as high as she can.
