Havana/The Inter American Press Association issued a statement this Friday to condemn the arbitrary detentions, house arrests and police harassment that have occurred in recent weeks in Cuba against independent journalists and activists. Among the cases listed by the organization are those of Yoani Sanchezdirector of 14ymedioand her husband and columnist for this newspaper, Reinaldo Escobar, who this Thursday were prevented from attending the reception organized by the head of the United States mission in Havana, Mike Hammer, at his residence.
In its text, the IAPA maintains that the authorities have reinforced operations against independent reporters and critical voices to stop the circulation of information about the real situation in the country. In his opinion, the combination of police controls, movement restrictions and summonses without judicial basis has become a recurring tool to pressure the unofficial press.
Furthermore, it warns that “freedom of the press cannot exist under a system of permanent persecution and police control” and that “sustained repression against those who inform constitutes an open and systematic denial of society’s right to be informed.” The harassment of recent days, recalls the IAPA, occurs at a time when the economic, social and energy crisis has been aggravated after the arrest of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, on January 3, “with blackouts of 20 or more hours a day in large regions of the country and without clear prospects for a solution.”
The organization lists, in addition to Sánchez and Escobar, 11 cases of harassment by State Security
The organization lists, in addition to Sánchez and Escobar, 11 cases of harassment by State Security. Among them are the independent reporter Angel Cuza Alfonsoarrested on January 27 in Havana and transferred to a police unit in the Playa municipality, just 24 hours after being released after spending six months in prison without trial.
They also mention the arrests of Henry Constantín Ferreiro, director of Cuba Timearrested three times during the month of January and later released without charges, and Alejandra García, collaborator of that medium. Likewise, they report harassment of Boris González Arenas, Berta Soler, Ángel Moya, Manuel Cuesta Morúa, Marthadela Tamayo and Dagoberto Valdés, who were subjected to police cordons and operations to restrict their movements.
Furthermore, the IAPA mentions the journalist José Gabriel Barrenecheain prison since his arrest in 2024, who on January 15 received a six-year prison sentence for participating in a peaceful protest in Encrucijada, Villa Clara.
Manigault, president of the Evening Post Publishing Inc. group, affirmed that the abuses against reporters and activists are not isolated events, but part of a policy aimed at further closing the information space in the country.
For her part, Martha Ramos, president of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information of the Inter-American Press Association, warned that the repeated use of short-term detentions, interrogations, incommunicado detention and criminal proceedings with severe sanctions seeks to generate a deterrent effect among journalists and limit coverage of sensitive issues for those in power.
At the same time, the Cuban Human Rights Observatory also reported that during 2025 at least 873 violations of religious freedom were recorded, during that year Catholic priests were especially repressed in times of social crisis, as was the case of José Ramírez, member of the Congregation of the Mission, expelled from the country last December after the authorities refused to renew his temporary residence, after ringing the bells of the La Milagrosa church, in Havana, as a gesture of support for neighbors who were protesting the blackouts.
According to internal sources of the Catholic Church cited by the observatory, the measure was promoted by the Office of Religious Affairs of the Communist Party, under pressure from State Security, and forced the religious to leave the Island in a matter of hours.
