Cuban Youtuber Duanny is Back
By Pedro Pablo Morejón
HAVANA TIMES – Duannys Moreno Sánchez became known in Cuba during the sad days of the fire in the supertankers of Matanzas in August, 2022.
This young man, through his YouTube channel, reported the events of that tragedy minute by minute with a professionalism worthy of a seasoned journalist.
Thanks to him many, both inside and outside the Island, kept abreast of what was happening in the disaster area.
Before the accident, his videos addressed aviation issues. Three of them had aroused my curiosity, one was about the disappearance of Commander Camilo Cienfuegos in October 1959, another about the explosion of the Cubana Airlines plane in Barbados in 1976, and the last one about the shooting down of the two planes belonging to Brothers to the Rescue on February 24, 1996.
That a young man bravely addressed these issues and provided an abundance of data and details of the events caught my attention and made me admire him.
He suddenly disappeared from the public arena. It was only known that State Security had “kept an eye on him.”
A week ago, he resurfaced to tell us the details of his disappearance. He was detained during the days of the catastrophe and for hours underwent interrogations by several officers and a prosecutor, where they tried to intimidate him with a penalty of up to eight years in prison for the crimes of incitement to commit a crime and disobedience.
From there they tried to blackmail him into collaborating with State Security in exchange for his freedom. He had to start by issuing a video favoring the regime on the issue of the fire and including hashtags with words like #Cuba avanza (is moving forward), among others.
According to what he tells us, he refused, alleging that although he would like to work for counterintelligence, he would only do so if the 1940 Constitution were restored in Cuba and they worked for the people, but given that they work to repress people, he could not accept it.
He also asked them how his followers, who are anti-communists, would believe such a video, knowing, moreover, of his opposition to socialism.
He goes on to say that in the end they released him, leaving him far away, miles from his place of residence, urging him to close his YouTube channel.
He denounces that during the following months both he and his family and friends were followed and harassed. He tried to escape from the north of the province of Artemisa but a failure in the boat’s engine caused the crew to abandon it on the coast and then it was lost due to a denunciation.
Thanks to an Argentine lady and other friends from abroad, he collected money to buy a ticket and leave Cuba.
Duannys has just restarted his channel, he claims to have videos that the regime could not seize from him, but he is in an insecure country, where they could locate him and cause him harm.
He looks forward to the possibility of reaching the United States, he would feel safer there.
He has many human qualities: charisma, honor, intelligence, culture, simplicity, courage and sensitivity. He hopefully gets there.