“Freedom!” The Cry That Landed a Cuban Mother in Prison
There were also pot-banging protests in the municipality of La Lisa in response to the continuous blackouts.
HAVANA TIMES – In the early morning of June 29, the Havana municipality of Guanabacoa became the epicenter of a neighborhood protest that left in its wake a fire, a dozen arrests, and a tense atmosphere. The trigger was yet another blackout, compounded by a lack of water, which drove dozens of residents from the Barreto, Teguete, and Potosí neighborhoods into the streets shouting “Freedom!” and smashing bottles on the pavement.
The government’s response was swift. Police patrols, plainclothes agents, and anti-riot units were deployed within minutes. “The police took away whoever they could,” a resident reported from an anonymous social media account.
Among those arrested was Sunamis Quintero Garcia, a young Cuban mother who, according to witnesses, did not directly participate in the protest. “She was sitting on the porch. When she saw the police coming, she began to shout ‘Freedom! Long live a free Cuba!’ and right then, three officers pounced on her,” her mother, Moraima García, said in a video recorded from Florida, where she has lived for the past 13 years.
Quintero, mother of two young children—one five years old and the other just one—was first taken to the Guanabacoa police station. From there, according to her mother, she was transferred to the Regla station, then to the Vivac detention center, and later to Villa Marista, the headquarters of State Security. As of now, she remains incommunicado.
“My daughter had never protested before. She’s depressed, with two kids and no food. She shouted because she couldn’t take it anymore,” Garcia explained.
The family claims the authorities are trying to prosecute her as a ringleader of the protest, which they see as a political maneuver to make an example of her.
A neighbor of Quintero told 14ymedio, “As far as I know, she had never been involved in anything political, but obviously with the way things are now, we’re all under a lot of stress.” The woman explained that the patrol cars arrived with their sirens off, so many residents didn’t notice until the arrests began. “Nobody’s really talking about it around here, just like with so many other things… maybe out of fear. From what little I’ve heard, they’re still being held. Yesterday the street was still full of broken glass,” she added.
Organizations like Cubalex have confirmed not only Quintero’s arrest but also that of an entire family: Hiromi Moliner, her husband—identified as El Nene—and their eldest children, Donovan Fernando and Deyanira Lopez. Moliner, who also has two younger children, is in delicate health after undergoing surgery for breast cancer a year ago.
According to Cubalex, the detainees were first taken to the Alamar police station and then also transferred to Villa Marista. All remain without contact with their families.
“The repression was disproportionate, and the arrests were carried out without legal warrants or due process,” the organization warned. “The regime uses the criminalization of dissent to silence citizens’ voices—even the most basic ones, like shouting from the curb.”
The protest in Guanabacoa was not an isolated case. One day later, on June 30, pot-banging protests were reported in the municipality of La Lisa, also in response to prolonged power outages.
The case of Sunamis Quintero symbolizes that desperation. With no prior activism or visible links to opposition groups, two shouted phrases from her home were enough to turn her into an enemy of the system. “My daughter is being treated like a criminal, like a dangerous leader, and all she did was refuse to stay silent,” her mother lamented.