MIAMI, United States. – The independent journalist from the audiovisual agency Palenque Visión José Antonio López Piña publicly denounced the harassment by the Cuban regime’s Political Police, who harass him with non-payment of fines imposed due to his work as a reporter.
López Piña told CubaNet that on February 13, the fine collection manager in his area appeared demanding payment of the amount “owed.”
López Piña has been subjected to searches, arbitrary arrests and threats for his work as an independent journalist and human rights activist.
“On July 21, 2021 ―told CubaNet― I was the object of a raid by repressive forces of the regime, the so-called ‘Black Berets’, in which I was stripped of all assets that accredit me as an independent journalist; and I was subjected to an arbitrary detention for more than three days, in which I lost all the means that allowed me to practice my profession,” the reporter insisted.
López Piña, who has gone to prison on several occasions, refuses to pay the fines that he considers arbitrary, despite threats.
“As an independent journalist and human rights activist in Santiago de Cuba, I am not going to pay any penny to the Castro regime because I think they are arbitrary fines,” he said.
Currently, the reporter and activist is under precautionary measure accused of incitement to commit a crime for his comments on social networks about the anti-government protests of July 2021.
López Piña assures that everything he has suffered is a consequence of his work as an independent journalist in Santiago de Cuba.
“I am a dissident, an independent journalist; I have gone to prison three times. In the year 2000 I was imprisoned for non-payment of fines, that is, I am prepared to take on whatever comes because what they are going to do is turn me into one more hero of this war, another political prisoner in this country”, he assured.
