MIAMI, United States. – Agents of the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) of Baracoa threatened this Friday the reporter and human rights activist Yoel Acosta Gámez to leave the country before April 1, 2023, according to what the young man himself declared to CubaNet.
Acosta Gámez, who was subjected to interrogation this Friday, assured that he was threatened both by his sector chief and by an agent of the State Security.
“What they propose to me is that I have to leave the country before April 1. If I don’t abandon him, I’m going to be prosecuted for a crime, since they filed a file on me and accused me of ‘attacking State Security’ and ‘inciting civil disobedience’ within the country,” the activist said.
Likewise, he explained that the MININT agents proposed that he pay for his immigration procedures in order for him to leave the national territory.
“They also told me that they could provide me with a passport so that I could travel without having to pay for it. I simply have to show up at the MININT unit next Monday with the aim of being interviewed by the high command, State Security officials who come from the province to talk to me, ”he said.
“They already made it clear to me that they are not going to give me another chance or let me continue doing my work as an independent journalist. Either I leave the country or I am prosecuted in court and sentenced to 15 years in prison for the false crimes and charges against me,” said Acosta Gámez.
The young man from Baracoaa human rights defender, has been interrogated, threatened and struck on several occasions. In addition, she has been the victim of confiscation of her mobile phones, seized by MININT agents both in her own home and on public roads.
The last time he had been cited was last December. “On that occasion,” Acosta Gámez explained to CubaNet, “a file was opened for me where they accused me of attacking State Security. They told me that I had three months to leave my country, which is until March. And that if I did not withdraw from the opposition and did not stop doing my job as an independent journalist, which is making audiovisuals of the Cuban reality, this file would be reopened for me, because they were following me for that crime, alleged attack against Security of the State”.
In last august the also journalist of CubaNet Nelson Julio Álvarez Mairata resigned from his job as a reporter due to pressure from State Security.
