Miami, United States. – The Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and Press (ICLEP) registered a total of 58 violations of freedom of expression and press in Cuba during the first month of 2025, according to Your most recent report. The main victims were citizens without affiliation to dissident organizations, activists and political prisoners.
According to the ICLEP methodology, 47 of these violations were related to freedom of expression and 11 with freedom of the press. In addition, 23 attacks, threats and psychological aggressions, 15 abusive uses of state power, 10 arbitrary arrests, 4 restrictions in digital space, three prisoners and three physical aggressions were documented.
The provinces with the highest incidence of these facts were Havana (19), Villa Clara (10), Guantanamo (8), Mayabeque (7) and Las Tunas (6). As the ICLEP has denounced repeatedly, “State Security and the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) continue to be the main repressor organs.” With respect to January, the report indicated a greater incidence of the penitentiary system in aggressions against political prisoners.
The document highlights cases such as Alexander Fábregaswho after his judgment for “propaganda against the constitutional order” was taken to a punishment cell for shouting anti -government slogans. In addition, ONIKEL INFANTE ABREU He received a sentence of eight years in prison under the same accusation.
The ICLEP also warned about the lack of access from political prisoners to religious assistance, the incommunication of some during January and the refusal of regulatory passes of the 11J, such as Leonel Tristá García and Nosley Lázaro Domínguez Linares. In the case of Edilberto Arzuaga Alcalá, it was denounced that he was threatened and tried to force him to sign a document in which he renounced his political positions. When refusing, he was transferred to a maximum security prison.
The releases made between January 15 and 20, within the framework of an agreement between the Cuban government and the former US president Joe Biden with the mediation of the Vatican, were also used as a control mechanism. According to ICLEP, Lisdiani Rodríguez Isaac, Donaida Pérez Pasiro and Arianna López Roque “threatened them at the time of their release with a prison if they wrote on social networks or communicated with the independent press and opponents.”
Regarding censorship and digital repression, the report mentions that Félix Daniel Pérez Ruiz and Cristhian de Jesús Peña Aguilera were sentenced to five and four years in jail, respectively, for publications in social networks considered “propaganda against constitutional order”. Cases of persecuted journalists were also denounced, such as NiOber García Fournierwho was accused of “usurpation of legal capacity” and subsequently regulated, prohibiting the country’s departure for alleged reasons for “national security.”
The repression reached common citizens, such as the street vendor Wilber García Mora and Bicitaxi driver Edgardo Raúl Manso, who were fined with 24,000 and 10,000 Cuban pesos, respectively, after appearing in a report of the independent medium DNA Cuba. Episodes of cultural censorship were also recorded, such as the cancellation of two show presentations Riding the air of the Cuban actor and playwright Jorge Ferrera, as well as the impossibility of exhibiting the work Happy Peasants 1938-2024 at the headquarters of the Dissent Museum in Cuba.
The ICLEP concluded that “repression against freedom of expression and press in Cuba is systematic and structural”, pointing out that in 2024 790 violations were documented, an increase of 59.92% compared to 2023. According to the agency, the figures January reflect an upward trend in government repression, suggesting that 2025 could be marked by a new increase in violations of These fundamental rights.
