More than 3,000 people attended a rally on July 17 at the Freedom Tower on Biscayne Boulevard—chanting “Patria y Vida” and “Libertad” as they waved Cuban and American flags—to protest the deteriorating living conditions in Cuba.
“That’s what’s going to happen tonight, [we’ll hear] the voices of those who are in Cuba fighting against communism and for their freedom,” Miami Dade College President Madeline Pumariega said in Spanish, as she addressed the crowd at the rally.
For more than a week, people have called for an end to the 62-year-old communist regime in Cuba, which has caused the deterioration of the country’s economy and left its residents without basic goods and services, medical attention, and more.
Cuban-American singer and actor Jencarlos Canela, who graduated from the New World School of the Arts, organized the rally. International artists and activists—including Emilio Estefan and Willy Chirino—joined protestors as they marched for hours in the area blocked off by police.
The event featured a montage of 150 videos of the island while people sang the lyrics of Patria y Vida, a song that has become an anthem for Cuban freedom. The rally concluded when the Freedom Tower was illuminated in red, white and blue to represent the Cuban flag.
During the 1960s and 70s, the Freedom Tower, considered by many as the “Ellis Island of the South,” served as a processing point in Miami for Cuban refugees who sought political asylum from Fidel Castro’s regime.
