AREQUIPA, Peru – Independent journalist Niober García Fournier, collaborator of CubaNetwas verbally cited this weekend by the political police of the Cuban regime in the province of Guantánamo.
The incident occurred last Friday, García Fournier reported to this newspaper, when Major Caraballo (who identifies himself as the second Chief of Criminal Instruction of the State Security in the province) and five other agents showed up at his home and They told him to report to an operations unit in the territory next Monday, although without explaining why.
“I imagine this is because of a complaint I made about immigration regulation that I have, and also to bother. “They do not lose the habit of bothering, sowing weeds, threatening, and everything that we know they do,” said the independent reporter in reference to the harassment that he has suffered for years at the hands of State Security (SE) Castro.
García Fournier comments that in recent months he has also been subject to intimidation by the dictatorship and, although there have been no direct confrontations with the repressive bodies, he has recounted three episodes of surveillance from October 2 to date.
“Twice SE agents were at the entrance to my house for an entire early morning, without saying anything to me, and a few days later a patrol car parked on the corner of my block. Surveillance events,” he explained.
For years, the independent reporter or his family members have been harassed by the island’s regime. In October 2023, the journalist experienced a summons in circumstances almost identical to the current ones, where they did not leave him a document or formal written indication.
Months before, in August of that year, agents of the Cuban regime They threatened to imprison him. On that occasion, he was summoned orally by the sector chief of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) to appear before the Guantánamo Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.
Likewise, in April 2022, Niober García Fournier denounced a disinformation campaign launched by the political police against her family.
García Fournier was also arrested on July 11, 2021 (11J) for trying to cover the historic demonstrations that day, which spread to more than 60 locations on the Island. On that occasion, the reporter spent more than two days in detention. In addition, the journalist has been fined twice under Decree-Law 370, also known as the “Azote Law.”
