Barrenechea was tried with five other people for participating in the peaceful protests that occurred at the crossroads in November 2024.
Havana, Cuba. – After more than 10 hours of execution, this Wednesday culminated, around 8:00 at night, the judgment Against the Cuban writer and journalist José Gabriel Barrenechea Chávez In the Popular Provincial Court of Villa Clara, located in the city of Santa Clara.
Together with five other people, Barrenechea was tried for participating in the peaceful protests that occurred at the crossroads in November 2024 to demand the restoration of the electrical service after more than 48 hours of blackout. According to the accusation, the journalist shouted “put the current; we want the current” and urged those present not to give up the protest.
The writer also has been provisional prison for more than 10 months. The prosecution requested for him a Maximum penalty of six years in jail for the alleged crime of “public disorders.”
“The five lawyers made a good defense and presented many witnesses; they claimed that what happened was a peaceful demonstration and that, therefore, it did not typify as a crime. The trial was very long due to the number of statements and people. Even, at one time the current went Cubanet A Barrenechea relative who asked to protect his identity.
Likewise, the Source said that, of the six witnesses presented by the Prosecutor’s Office, five were members of the Ministry of Interior (Minint) and the Sixth, militant of the Communist Party. The latter, when declaring, “far from accusing, ended up defending the defendants.”
Another family source declared that defense witnesses were much more coherent in their testimonies. This, together with a “good defense” by lawyers, makes them hope for the acquittal of the defendants.
However, in statements prior to Cubanet The lawyer Santiago Alpízar, a Cuban exiled in Miami, said it is “very difficult” that the defendants are acquitted, because these judgments have an exemplary effect and are part of the mechanisms used by the regime to repress and keep the people in a state of oppression.
On the outskirts of the Provincial Court of Villa Clara, known as the Hearing, witnesses consulted by Cubanet They claimed to witness militarization: men dressed as civilians who even defined who could enter and who not.
The opponent Guillermo Coconut Fariñas, general coordinator of the United Anti -Total Forum (Fantu), was arrested to prevent him from entering the trial. The arrest was executed by Lieutenant Colonel Abelardo Rodríguez Febles, second head of the Provincial Unit of Confrontation to subversive activity in Villa Clara, subordinated to the Directorate of Contrainteligence of the Ministry of Interior (DCI-Minint). Coco Fariñas remained about eight hours detained in the Provincial Unit of Criminal Investigations and Operations (Upico), of the same province.
The lawyer and director of the Cubalex Legal Information Center, Laritza Diversent, explained to this media that, “in principle, the law establishes that the court has 15 business days (three weeks) to issue a sentence, but this period can be extended and the law does not establish how long; they can be three or four months, even more.”
For the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), this case is another sample of the criminalization of the peaceful protest in Cuba.
This Tuesday, the Pen International demanded The “immediate liberation” of Barrenechea Chávez and expressed concern for the trial.
“Cuban writers and artists continue to face a relentless persecution for their books, articles and protests. The systematic efforts of the government to silence them reveal the deep fear of freedom of expression that lies in the heart of repression in Cuba. The global community of Pen urges the immediate liberation of José Gabriel Barrenechea International
Thida also described the case of Barrenechea as a demonstration of the “relentless effort” of the Cuban authorities for silencing the dissent.
