MIAMI, United States. – The international organization Article 19 regretted this Monday in a statement “the repressive wave registered during September against activists and independent journalists with highly visible profiles for their work defending human rights and journalism on the Island.”
The organization considered the attacks directed at independent journalists, activists and media collaborators as CubaNetwho are exposed to systematic harassment by the Cuban regime.
Likewise, Article 19 noted how repression has escalated in both the physical and digital spheres. In that sense, he mentioned the case of Yeris Curbelo Aguilera, reporter for Palenque Visión and collaborator of CubaNetwho was sentenced to two years in prison by the Niceto Pérez Court, in Guantánamo, on the charge of “minor injuries.”
The NGO specifies that Curbelo was the victim of a police attack in June, while participating in a peaceful demonstration. “The actions of State Security against me for just fighting and wanting a free and democratic Cuba is super unfair, cruel and vandalism,” declared Curbelo after the sentence.
Another recent case of harassment highlighted in the report is that of Adelth Bonne Gamboa, who was a victim of direct intimidation in his own home on September 22, when two women linked to the Cuban Government rebuked him for his journalistic work critical of the regime.
Bonne Gamboa has been an active defender of human rights and has denounced the precarious living conditions in Cuba, which has made him a frequent target of the authorities.
Additionally, the organization highlighted the recent short-term forced disappearance of Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, who was arrested on September 22 while she was on her way to exercise her right to protest in Havana and was missing for almost 72 hours.
“The facts that were insistently denied by the authority are a clear example of the regime’s strategy of silencing dissident voices, even in the most personal spaces such as home and privacy,” Article 19 noted.
The report also drew attention to the growing digital censorship on the Island. In that sense, it mentioned the case of activist José Manuel Barreiro Rouco, who faces a possible sentence of up to two and a half years in prison for sharing satirical memes about Fidel Castro and Miguel Díaz-Canel in a private Facebook group.
The Cienfuegos Prosecutor’s Office accuses him of “contempt” and “illegal possession and sale in dollars”, which, according to Article 19, reveals the suffocating control that the State exercises over freedom of expression in the digital space.
Another alarming incident cited by Article 19 is the death threat he received Yamilka Lafita Cancio (Lara Crofs). On September 24, the Cuban activist received a message on her Facebook account in which she was explicitly threatened for her work in favor of vulnerable groups.
Article 19 concluded its statement by demanding the Cuban Government to immediately stop the persecution against journalists and activists, and to reform the Penal Code and the Social Communication Law, regulations that prohibit the exercise of independent journalism and restrict the dissemination of information. The organization also requested that Cuba ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and establish an independent institution for the protection of human rights.
