Havana/Cuban independent journalist Boris González Arenas was prevented this Wednesday from traveling to the United States, for a professional exchange, from the José Martí International Airport in Havana. An official, with an identification from the General Customs of the Republic, informed the reporter of the existence of an exit ban, but without giving more details about the reasons for this. regulation.
González Arenas had to travel to join the “AI and technology in journalism” project, part of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) 2026, an initiative aimed at leaders and professionals from different countries. The project, as explained on his Facebook account, is conceived as a space for exchange with colleagues from the continent about the contemporary challenges of the reporting profession.
According to his testimony, upon arriving at the immigration control point in Terminal 3, an official identified as Ricardo González, with a Customs credential, informed him that he had “a travel impediment.” González Arenas tried to find out the authority that had ordered the measure and requested that a complaint that he wrote, in his own handwriting, be signed at the airport itself, but the official refused to accept a copy. “To my question about who they were [los que impedían viajar]”He told me he didn’t know,” denounces the journalist, who claims that the agent called “someone” to confirm the exit ban.
“To my question about who they were [los que impedían viajar]”He told me he didn’t know.”
The restrictive measure occurs months after González Arenas managed to leave the Island for a visit to Spain, after years of remaining “regulated”, an administrative condition used by the Cuban authorities to restrict the departure of activists, journalists and opponents from the country. Between 2019 and 2024, the reporter recalls, it was permanently regulated, in addition to other specific prohibitions that it suffered in previous years.
In Cuba, these restrictions are applied without a court order or defined deadlines and are usually communicated verbally at the airport itself, a practice widely documented by the independent press and human rights organizations. The regulated They make up an opaque list, administered by the Ministry of the Interior, which is activated or deactivated without written notification and leaves those affected in legal limbo, without effective means of claiming.
The journalist pointed out that this type of blockade has a high professional cost. In his case, he assures that he was previously prevented from attending invitations to speak about the Cuban reality in the British Parliament or to observe electoral processes in Colombia. “They are right to prevent me from traveling, every word of mine would strive to break the floor of their filth,” he wrote in reference to the impact that his testimony would have outside the Island.
“They are right to prevent me from traveling, every word of mine would strive to break the floor of their filth”
Beyond the professional level, González Arenas highlighted the personal and family impact of the measure. The days before a trip, he said, become days of tension for a family that has accumulated “fifteen years of accompanying a human rights defender” in a context of permanent harassment. Despite this, he stated that returning home “will never be a bad luck.”
In 2019 alone, the list of Cuban citizens on whom the Government had imposed the “regulated” label consisted of about 150 people. This mechanism, with which the authorities arbitrarily restrict the free movement of activists, journalists and opponents in general, has established itself as a common repressive method. Journalist Reinaldo Escobar, part of the editorial board of this newspaper, has been under a travel ban for more than five years.
The free movement of people is enshrined in both article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 52 of the Cuban Constitution. Although in both cases, and in all States, it is a right subject to regulations, the Havana regime applies them arbitrarily, limiting the room for maneuver of those affected, who can sometimes confront them through judicial means and other times must resort to activism.
