(EFE).- The independent journalist and trans-Cuban activist Mel Herrera was summoned, for the second time in less than a month, to testify at a police station after having organized a community Christmas dinner with LGBTI people in Havana.
Herrera denounced in December that a State Security agent summoned her to an “interview” after having made public that she would hold this dinner, in which food would also be given to homeless people.
On social networks, he criticized that the police insinuate that the money he had collected with his friends to finance the meeting came from an embassy or foreign government.
On social networks, he criticized the fact that the police insinuated that the money he had collected with his friends to finance the meeting came from an embassy or foreign government, a point that he flatly denied. She also reported that she was harassed and threatened by the agent.
Herrera did not attend the interview and filed an appeal with the Prosecutor’s Office considering that the summons lacked legal basis, because she is not subject to any process and therefore does not have to go to testify.
The summons was also censored on social networks by the US embassy in Havana. The message from the diplomatic legation was also directly rejected by the activists themselves, because they considered that it only reinforced the narrative that they were, supposedly, linked to foreign money.
The dinner was finally held and was described as a success by its organizers.
The message from the diplomatic legation was directly rejected by the activists themselves, because they considered that it only reinforced the narrative that they were linked to foreign money
“The previous (subpoena) had the reason for dinner but for this there is nothing (to justify it),” Herrera complained in a telephone interview with EFE. “This responds to how challenging it seemed to them that I did not (go to the interview) and also that I made it public,” she added.
The activist told EFE that she filed a second appeal and that the prosecutor who attended her assured her that she would receive a response to the first one “soon”. She insisted that she, too, will not show up for the appointment this time.
Last October, the teacher and mentor of a group of independent intellectuals and artists Alina Barbara Lopez Hernandez He set a precedent in Cuba after the Prosecutor’s Office ruled in his favor after formally complaining about an appointment made by State Security.
In the case of Herrera, the agent who gave her the summons has followed her for two years, according to what she told EFE. The activist believes that her situation is due, in addition to the dinner, to the fact that she does independent journalism and that she has been critical of the lack of rights and guarantees for trans people on the Island.
Cuba approved in a referendum the Family Code, a package of regulations that legalized, among other things, equal marriage. However, it does not include laws that protect and expand the rights of the trans community
In Cuba it is possible to change the legal name of a trans person on their identity card and also the photo, but not the gender registered at birth.
This legal vacuum has sustained cases that have become media, such as that of Brenda Diaz, 9/11 protesterwho is serving a 14-year prison sentence in a prison with men.
Last September, Cuba approved in a referendum the Family Code, a package of regulations that legalized, among other things, equal marriage. However, it does not include laws that protect and expand the rights of the trans community.
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