MADRID, Spain.- In current days the province of Pinar del Río has been the scene of a wave of repression towards activists and impartial journalists by the Cuban regime. Cubalex reported a number of incidents that embody police operations, dwelling searches, confiscation of labor supplies, arbitrary arrests, threats and unlawful summonses.
One of many registered circumstances includes the activist Yoelexis Acosta Alonso, who knowledgeable Cubalex that he was verbally summoned by a State Safety official to seem this Monday the thirteenth at “El Técnico” in Pinar del Río, beneath the specter of going through fees for “disobedience” in case of failure to seem.
In one other incident, on Might 9, activist Roberto Blanco Gil was arbitrarily detained throughout a police operation at his dwelling. The authorities, citing details about the alleged receipt of firearms, confiscated a number of objects, together with a laptop computer, flash drives and 20 kilos of wheat flour, important components for his each day sustenance.
“The explanation for the seizure was the shortage of documentation proving the origin of those items, which is absurd within the context of Cuba, the place invoices should not issued for this sort of objects, aside from the laptop computer, which was lent,” explains Cubalex.
As well as, he grew to become conscious of the arrest of journalists Yosmaury Casares Soto and Raciel Álvarez Díaz, from the impartial media Pinar del Río Panoramawho had been arrested in San Juan and Martínez and the gear used for his or her journalistic work was confiscated.
The operation, led by State Safety brokers, culminated with threats in direction of the journalists, warning them of attainable authorized penalties for his or her apply of impartial journalism and for alleged hyperlinks with folks thought-about “unwelcome” by the Authorities.
The case of activist Michael Hernández Medina was additionally reported, who was arrested on April 30 beneath accusations of “contempt of authority” after a summons to the PNR of the Antonio Briones Montoto group, in Pinar del Río. Hernández Medina faces the opportunity of being transferred to Havana.
In current occasions, the Cuban impartial press has been decimated by exodus and political persecution. On this context, final month a number of repressive acts had been recorded towards collaborators of CubaNet: Journalist Camila Acosta was detained in Cárdenas (Matanzas) when she was getting ready to go to kin of political prisoners and returned to Havana and not using a court docket order. Camagüey journalist José Luis Tan Estrada was intercepted by the political police on April 26, when he entered Havana. He was detained in Villa Marista, the place State Safety saved him incommunicado, however with out charging him with any crime. The Provincial Courtroom of Havana rejected the habeas corpus enchantment introduced in his favor with the inadmissible argument that three copies needed to be proven.
Additionally in April, the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and Press (ICLEP) denounced in a report: “impartial journalists had been among the many primary targets of the repression that the Cuban regime carried out towards free expression.” Among the many most frequent assaults, threats and psychological aggressions, ICLEP recorded smear campaigns towards journalists for his or her informative work, police summonses, threats towards residents for publicly demanding their rights and repression towards political prisoners who denounced violations dedicated in prisons.
The Island’s place is 168 out of 180 seats worldwide, 4 locations lower than the one registered (172) in 2023. Likewise, Cuba is 5 locations above Nicaragua (163) and 12 with respect to Venezuela (156).
In all three nations, RSF factors out, “journalism is topic to censorship based mostly on arbitrary selections, which might take the type of arrests, suspensions of broadcasting or administrative obstacles.”
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2024-05-16 04:26:22
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