Madrid/The police arrested academic Alina Bárbara López again in Matanzas when she was on her way, like every 18th of every month, to carry out her peaceful protest in favor of democracy and the release of Cuban political prisoners. Around 10 p.m. he was back home, about 12 hours after he was lost.
On this occasion, López was accompanied by activist Leonardo Romero Negrín. Both were taken to the Playa station, according to the teacher’s daughter, Cecilia Borroto, who also raised the first alarm.
“Alina Bárbara López Hernández and Leonardo Romero Negrín are missing,” he warned at around two in the afternoon. “They left together for the Parque de la Libertad, in Matanzas, to be there at 10 in the morning. Our family has not been able to communicate with either of them. Alina Bárbara López Hernández’s phone is turned off or outside the coverage area. The police refuse to give any information over the phone and my mother has not called her lawyer, which is a right, without the reason for the arrest being known so far,” he stressed.
Hours later, Borroto confirmed having found them at the police station. “The police refused to provide this information by telephone, which is a violation of the Constitution. Another of the many violations every day. At the station, where we showed up (…) they tell us that the presence of their lawyer is not necessary, another violation,” he lamented.
“At the station, where we showed up (…) they tell us that the presence of their lawyer is not necessary, another violation”
The opponent’s daughter warned of “consequences” if something happened to her mother. “We also ensure Leo’s integrity,” he said.
After 10 p.m., Cecilia Borroto confirmed that the two detainees were at home, but the poor quality of the internet prevented her from knowing more details. “I hope that tomorrow they, or failing that I, can tell how everything happened. Thank you very much to all the people who cared, who shared, who showed solidarity. That is a very strong message, we Cubans are not alone, we have ourselves.”
On January 30, the Popular Municipal Court of Matanzas informed the academic of the undated suspension of the trial against her, in which she faced a maximum penalty of four years of correctional work.
The prosecution charged her with the alleged crimes of disobedience, contempt and attack during her last arrest, in June 2024. “I was beaten, I was mistreated, I was dragged down a ditch,…” she stated on that occasion.
The events occurred on June 18, 2024, when López and fellow academic and dissident Jenny Pantoja (from whom they are asking for three years of correctional work) were traveling in a taxi from Matanzas to Havana with the aim of participating in an act of protest.
The police stopped the vehicle and told them that they had to get out and get into a patrol car to be taken to a police station in Matanzas. According to López, she asked about the legality of the arrest and its reasons, to which a police officer responded with multiple acts of violence.
According to López, she asked about the legality of the arrest and its reasons, to which a police officer responded with multiple acts of violence.
The Prosecutor’s Office, for its part, stated that it was López who struggled and insulted the agents and that the physical damage alleged by both “was not real.”
More than 220 writers and artists signed an open letter in which they denounced the “police violence” with which López and Pantoja were treated. Among the signatories were the writer Leonardo Padura, the Argentine musician and singer-songwriter Fito Páez and the film director Fernando Pérez.
López has been arrested several times in recent years for carrying out symbolic protests and as a result of these actions she was sentenced at the end of 2023 to pay a fine for a crime of disobedience, which she refused.
