The dictatorship seeks to divert attention from its incompetence and economic mismanagement, denounced the Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs.
LIMA, Peru – The State Department in the United States condemned this weekend the repression on the island against the independent press, particularly against communicators harassed for carrying out free journalism.
“We reject the continuous attacks of the Cuban regime against independent journalists,” published in X (formerly Twitter) the Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs, in charge of conducting Washington’s foreign policy in that region.
According to the official text, the Castro dictatorship only seeks to divert attention from its incompetence, its poor economic management, the failure of its communist policies, corruption and repression.
The position of the State Department stands out in the midst of a context of crisis on the Island, exacerbated by the effects of Hurricane Melissa in eastern Cuba, and in which the regime continues to silence independent voices not only from the strictly journalistic field, but also from citizens who publish information or opinions on social networks.
“Unlike the regime, the United States supports the Cuban people and their right to uncensored information,” highlights the publication of the Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs.
The US Government’s complaint also transcends barely a month after the publication of the Cuba chapter of the report Journalism, violence and persecutiona text on press freedom in Latin America in 2024, prepared by the Voces del Sur network.
According to the analysis, Cuba registered a total of 232 alerts of violence against the press in 2024, a drop of 53.2% compared to 2023 that does not indicate an improvement in the information environment, but rather the result of the forced exodus of journalists, fear and self-censorship within the country.
Independent journalism: repression based on silencing
The data corresponding to the Island were collected and analyzed by the Cuban Institute of Freedom of Expression and Press (ICLEP).
99% of the attacks were perpetrated by state actors; Within them, State Security concentrated 63.2% and the telecommunications company ETECSA 28.4%.
The report places the reduction of alerts in a context of structural collapse of independent journalism. “Repression has become a structural strategy of silencing,” he indicates. Those who remain on the Island “live with fear and self-censorship,” while among those who emigrated “very few can sustain their work from exile,” he adds.
Criminal and police prosecution remained a central method of control. The ICLEP documented 67 arbitrary detentions throughout 2024, with cases accompanied by threats and physical attacks; It also recorded two episodes of torture and eight judicial proceedings, a category absent the previous year.
At the end of the period, at least three journalists remained imprisoned without procedural guarantees: Carlos Michel Morales Rodríguez, Yeris Curvelo Aguilera and José Gabriel Berrenechea Chávez. “These practices violate not only the right to freedom of expression, but also due process and the physical and psychological integrity of the victims.”
The digital component of silencing acquired decisive weight. In 2024, 63 internet restrictions were documented (90% of them were executed by ETECSA), with blocking of independent sites and media, selective service cuts—including cuts to journalists during international interviews—, cyberattacks and cyberbullying.
“These restrictions are not random. These actions show that technological control is not casual, but planned, intensified on sensitive dates such as July 11, in order to prevent coverage of protests and preserve the narrative hegemony of the State,” the report indicates.
The text emphasizes that the state apparatus acts on three complementary fronts: security, telecommunications and justice. State Security operated as the “main repressive arm” through summonses, threats, arrests and acts of intimidation; ETECSA “consolidated itself as a pillar in digital control and information isolation”; and the courts, “at the service of the executive branch,” applied sanctions and denied procedural rights, turning the judicial system into a tool of repression.
In terms of differentiated violence, the ICLEP did not report alerts based on sex or sexual orientation during 2024; However, it warns that the absence of records does not imply the absence of risks, but rather a lack of visibility and specific documentation for historically marginalized populations.
