Cuban Opposition Group Denounces 'Repression,' Calls for Protests

Anti-government protesters march in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, July 11, 2021. Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in several cities in Cuba to protest against ongoing food shortages and high prices of foodstuffs. (AP Photo/Eliana Aponte)
Anti-government protesters march in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, July 11, 2021. Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in several cities in Cuba to protest against ongoing food shortages and high prices of foodstuffs. (AP Photo/Eliana Aponte)
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Cuban Opposition Group Denounces 'Repression,' Calls for Protests

Anti-government protesters march in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, July 11, 2021. Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in several cities in Cuba to protest against ongoing food shortages and high prices of foodstuffs. (AP Photo/Eliana Aponte)
Anti-government protesters march in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, July 11, 2021. Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in several cities in Cuba to protest against ongoing food shortages and high prices of foodstuffs. (AP Photo/Eliana Aponte)

Cuban opposition group Archipelago on Tuesday hit out at the government's "repression" of a planned protest and called on its supporters to keep demonstrating for another 10 days.

A planned protest on Monday was thwarted as opposition leaders were detained and security forces flooded the streets to prevent people from gathering, AFP reported.

Archipelago blasted "the extreme militarization of the streets, more than 100 activists besieged, arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, repudiation, violence, threats, coercion and hate speech" in a statement sent to AFP.

"The resurgence of repression against citizens and peaceful protesters is not and will not be accepted," said Archipelago.

The group, which has 30,000 members inside and outside Cuba, called on protesters to continue their struggle by wearing white, carrying white roses, creating personal videos and banging pots and pans at night, until November 27.

That was the date last year on which more than 300 young artists staged a protest outside the culture ministry demanding freedom of expression.

Amongst those detained Monday were opposition figure Manuel Cuesta Morua, 58; the leader of the Ladies in White rights movement Berta Soler; and her husband Angel Moya, a former political prisoner.

Another government critic, Guillermo Farinas, has been detained since Friday, and numerous protest organizers and independent journalists were reportedly confined to their homes by the security forces Monday, with their internet cut.

Archipelago's founder, playwright Yunior Garcia, 39, is in police custody after he was prevented from embarking on a one-man weekend protest.

As of Tuesday, reporters have been unable to contact him and he has not posted on social media.

An Archipelago coordinator, Daniela Rojo, whom the group had reported missing for days, has been arrested, too, the organization said. It said her social media accounts have vanished and it is not known where she is being held.

Archipelago has vowed to continue its struggle to "free all political prisoners" and to defend freedom of speech and the right to assemble.

The opposition group planned Monday's protest after being galvanized by unprecedented country-wide spontaneous demonstrations that broke out in July.

Those were fueled by growing anger at economic hardship and demands for "freedom," but a crackdown by security forces left one person dead, dozens injured and 1,270 arrested in a country where displays of public discontent are rare and risky.

More than 650 are still in jail, according to rights group Cubalex.



Israel Launches Communications Satellite from Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off at Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space Axiom Mission on June 25, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images/AFP
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off at Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space Axiom Mission on June 25, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images/AFP
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Israel Launches Communications Satellite from Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off at Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space Axiom Mission on June 25, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images/AFP
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off at Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space Axiom Mission on June 25, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images/AFP

Israel on Sunday said it had launched a new national communications satellite on board a SpaceX rocket from the United States.

The Dror 1 satellite was blasted into orbit on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral in Florida, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and the foreign ministry said.

"This $200 million 'smartphone in space' will power Israel's strategic and civilian communications for 15 years," the ministry wrote on X.

Accompanying video footage showed the reusable, two-stage rocket lift off into the night sky. SpaceX said the launch happened at 1:04 am in Florida (0504 GMT Sunday).

IAI, which called the launch "a historic leap for Israeli space technology", said when it announced the project to develop and build Dror 1 that it was "the most advanced communication satellite ever built in Israel".

In September 2016, an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket exploded during a test in Florida, destroying Israel's Amos-6 communications satellite, which was estimated to have cost between $200 and 300 million.