New Repressive Action Underway Versus Cuban Civil Society

It includes extortion, confiscations, and threats

By El Toque

HAVANA TIMES – Let’s prepare for this scene in the coming days: Cuban State Security spokespersons will appear on television, with a pompous voice and dramatic music, to present the “results” of a “new investigation” that, based on “substantial evidence,” will serve to “demonstrate” a “new operation organized from the United States.”

What we will see, however, will be a new staging of the Cuban regime’s repressive tactics. Using statements obtained under coercion and interrogation sessions lasting between eight and 12 hours, filled with threats and blackmail, the scriptwriters of State Security’s Villa Marista headquarters will pretend to have conducted a criminal investigation with guarantees and to have uncovered a new “conspiracy against Cuba.”

The reality, however, is quite different.

Since this repressive wave began in mid-September 2024, we have confirmed that around twenty persons collaborating with various independent media outlets (active or resigned since 2022), as well as social or entrepreneurial project managers, activists, and content creators, have been called to testify as “witnesses” in an alleged criminal investigation for the offense of being “mercenaries,” defined under Article 143 of the Penal Code.

The offense establishes prison sentences of between four and ten years for those who receive funds used to carry out activities “contrary to the Cuban State and its constitutional order.”

Among the irregularities of the process is that the statements are obtained in violation of several procedural norms, as it has not yet been clarified against whom the alleged legal case is directed in which the interrogated individuals must testify.

State Security agents condition the “collaboration” of those interrogated by giving them the choice of being “accused” or “witnesses” in the process. They reference these individuals’ participation in training programs that include stipends or funds for project execution —as is usual in such programs— to make them believe they violated the law.

The repressors have provided little documentary evidence (and of what they have presented, several were obtained through illegal electronic surveillance via the state monopoly Etecsa). During the interrogations, there is yelling and verbal abuse —the repressive officers try to convince people they have evidence, then pressure them until they obtain “confessions” and accusations against others that serves the script they have created.

One of the most dangerous tactics they have begun using is forcing the interrogated individuals to hand over hundreds of dollars they allegedly received in training programs or for collaborating with independent media. This occurs after signing a document acknowledging they received the money from “subversive” projects. In addition to clear extortion, State Security forces these individuals to incriminate themselves for participating in non-existent acts and, in the process, fabricates the evidence it lacks.

Another recurring pattern in these intimidation sessions is forcing individuals to renounce practicing independent journalism on the island or participating in foreign-funded training and support programs. In several cases, they are also forced to record their “confessions” on video.

There will be no surprise when, as has happened in the past, videos obtained by State Security agents are broadcast on television programs to discredit entities and individuals from independent civil society. Media exposure is often a form of harassment and pressure against journalists and dissenters, which also affects their families and support networks, aiming at social ostracism.

More signs of the current repressive wave are becoming known. Colleagues from Periodismo de Barrio and Cubanet have reported that several of their colleagues are among the victims.

Journalist Maria Lucia Exposito denounced, on a colleague’s profile —since her own is disabled— the harassment she experienced in recent days, the violence of the interrogation (lasting more than six hours), and the confiscation of money ($1,000, which “they demanded in the name of subversion represented by payment for a journalism training course”) and her cell phone.

“The psychological violence, with the State’s consent, uses the Penal Code as an instrument,” Maria Lucia testified.

In previous days, it was reported that among the intellectuals interrogated and harassed are essayist Alexander Hall and writer Jorge Fernandez Era, both of whom have collaborated with El Toque.

Hall received a summons to appear at Villa Marista, the headquarters of State Security, on September 19, 2024. The young man was released after several hours of interrogation. Hall has been subjected to constant harassment since July 2023, when he was banned from leaving the country.

Writer Jorge Fernandez Era received two summonses, one to Villa Marista and another, via telephone, to appear at the Aguilera station in Diez de Octubre. At Villa Marista, he was interrogated twice, and Lieutenant Colonel “Kenia” expressed concern about his writings in El Toque.

“I underwent two interrogations, each lasting just over an hour, in a two-by-two-meter air-conditioned office. The rest of the time I spent sitting in the reception area,” Era recounted.

As part of the new repressive wave, young Raymar Aguado was also summoned for interrogation on September 18, 2024, at the Zanja police station. There, he waited more than 15 minutes for the officer who summoned him to show up. International organizations like Article 19 have documented another wave of attacks, just in September, on independent journalism and citizen activism.

The director of Magazine AM:PM was also pressured, leading to the temporary closure of the outlet, announced on September 16, 2024. These are just some of the publicly reported cases.

Scorched Earth: Official Policy

The repression against El Toque colleagues is not new. In August 2022, State Security forced several team members to resign under pressure, their work equipment confiscated, and travel bans imposed on them. Others have had to go into exile to avoid prison.

The pressure tactics have not only affected El Toque. Between 2022 and 2024, at least 150 Cuban journalists went into exile due to constant political police harassment. The new wave has added three more so far.

Following the 2022 repressive pattern, in the last 24 hours, at least three people have publicly announced their resignation from “collaborating and/or participating in any media outlet or project of an independent and/or subversive nature contrary to the interests of the Cuban government.”

The repressive wave aims to extinguish part of independent journalism on the island and confirms the danger of working with projects not controlled by the Communist Party.

Given this situation, we reiterate our call to human rights organizations, governments, and international public opinion to pay attention to the serious situation faced by independent communicators and creators in Cuba. We are on the verge of potential judicial action that could further exacerbate the already significant number of political prisoners in our beleaguered country.

First published in Spanish by El Toque and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.

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