Dagoberto Valdés Hernández and Yoandy Izquierdo Toledo, members of the Coexistence Studies Center, were arrested.
LIMA, Peru – The State Security (SE) of the Cuban regime detained and interrogated Christian activists Dagoberto Valdés Hernández and Yoandy Izquierdo Toledo, members of the Center for Coexistence Studies (CEC), last Friday, the organization itself reported on social networks.
As reported by the CEC on Facebookthe arrest occurred as a result of a recent meeting between Valdés Hernández and the chargé d’affaires of the United States Embassy in Cuba, Mike Hammer.
“Dagoberto was taken to the offices for an interrogation in which the Major Head of the Legal Department of the SE, Major Ernesto (who “serves” Coexistence), Major Manuel, Chief of the Brigade to Confront the Counterrevolution in the province, and a young officer who did not identify himself participated,” the publication states.
During the arrest, the lawyer accused Valdés Hernández of “terrorism” and “collaborating with a foreign power that has threatened Cuba with military intervention.”
The interrogator commented that he was not going to allow Hammer will contact people to “use them for their purposes” in the current situation that Cuba is experiencing. “We will die with our boots on defending the Revolution,” stressed the SE agent.
The Study Center reported that after more than two hours of interrogation, the officers wrote a warning document (which the activist did not sign) and instructed him not to respond to invitations from the US ambassador, nor to the upcoming activities organized by the diplomat.
“After finishing with Dagoberto, Major Ernesto called Yoandy Izquierdo and told him that the essence of the interrogation was the same as what he had discussed with Valdés, given the critical situation in the country,” the CEC said.
In the case of Izquierdo Toledo, his interlocutors warned him about “the manipulation he could receive from the American ambassador and other embassies (…) because sharing the ideas of the enemy was also a crime.”
“He said they were not going to allow the same thing to happen as in Venezuelathat they knew everything from the Cuban intelligence reports, but there was betrayal and collaboration with the enemy, and that this was not going to happen here because ‘the Revolution is stronger than ever,'” Convivencia points out.
After the interrogation, both Christian activists were released, although the Study Center highlights in the publication the continuous harassment of the repressive bodies of the Castro dictatorship towards their organization.
In recent days, priests Alberto Reyes Pías and Castor José Álvarez Devesa have also received threats from the SE due to their messages of sovereignty and criticism of the harsh conditions experienced by the people of the Island.
The Havana regime has increased its censorship of civic activism and religious freedoms in the country, a symptom of the paranoia of a system that sees its stability threatened after the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela on January 3.
