Madrid/Yoani Sánchez, director of 14ymediowas arrested this Wednesday in the middle of the street to prevent her from attending a reception at the residence of the US head of mission in Havana, Mike Hammer. Her husband and columnist for this medium, Reinaldo Escobar, who left through another door of the building, was also blocked by two State Security agents dressed in civilian clothes and forced to return.
Followed for a few minutes by an agent of about 25 years old without uniform and with his face partially covered, Sánchez managed to communicate with the Editorial Office in Madrid to explain what was happening. The young man called her by name and she told him to identify himself, that she did not know who he was, to which he did not answer. Instead, he phoned what looked like a patrol car or other officers, asking for backup.
However, he could not know where he was exactly, to provide them with the location. It is known that the Ministry of the Interior usually assigns troops brought from other provinces to the capital, especially from the east of the islandwho on numerous occasions do not know the city.
At the height of Ayestarán Avenue and First Street, in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, the director of ’14ymedio’ stopped her march and was then approached
At the height of Ayestarán Avenue and First Street, in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, the director of 14ymedio She stopped walking and was then approached by the man who was following her and three more people who caught up with them, a man and two women.
Both men showed Sánchez a card with the initials DSE (Department of State Security) on it, but the women never identified themselves. Once there they told her that she had to walk home – “maybe because they don’t have gas,” the journalist ventures – and that she couldn’t leave “until tomorrow.”
The four escorted Sánchez to the basement of his home. The agents made it clear that the reason for the operation was to prevent the arrival of both journalists to the reception called by the American head of mission. “Of course he was going there, where he was going to go,” the director of this newspaper heard one agent comment to another.
The event to which both Sánchez and Escobar had been invited marked the beginning of the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the United States, this Wednesday, at 5:00 pm at the Hammer residence, located in the municipality of Playa. The special guest of the evening is Rob Allison, the coordinator for Cuba affairs at the State Department.
Last Friday, State Security detained the director of the Coexistence Studies Center in Pinar del Río, Dagoberto Valdesand his colleague Yoandy Izquierdo. Both were detained and interrogated for several hours in an operation led by the elders Ernest and Manuelboth political police officers, who acknowledged that the arrests were motivated by a recent visit by Valdés to Hammer.
