Havana/The Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC) denounced this Tuesday a series of repressive actions against four of its members, whom State Security agents visited in their homes with the aim of intimidating them and restricting their freedom of movement ahead of December 10, Memorial Day. Human Rights.
According to the opposition platform, the events are part of a pattern of political harassment that seeks to criminalize any form of citizen activism on the Island. Those affected are Eroisis González, a member of the Women’s Platform; Fernando Palacio, from the Center for Development and Leadership; Juan Manuel Moreno, from Candidates for Change; and Zealandia Pérez, member of the Cuban Commission on Electoral Rights.
According to the statement, the political police agents did not present official orders or legal explanations for the restrictions imposed, a common practice in police operations against opponents and activists on notable dates.
The political police agents did not present official orders for the imposed restrictions
In the cases of Juan Manuel Moreno and Zealandia Pérez, the authorities established what the CTDC described as an “arbitrary operation” that prohibits them from leaving their homes under threat of being accused of “contempt.” Both activists continue to recover from the chikungunya virus, but agents warned that even moving to receive medical attention would be interpreted as a violation of the measure, which could lead to their arrest and subsequent imprisonment.
The operation included explicit threats related to the recent appearance of graffiti in Havana, part of a campaign promoted from exile by Jose Daniel Ferrer on the occasion of Human Rights Day. Officers assured Moreno that if “a single piece of graffiti appeared in the city,” the activist might “never see the light of day again,” an expression that the CTDC interprets as a warning of prolonged incarceration based on fabricated accusations.
These incidents occur days after the arrest of the vice president of the CTDC, the opposition Manuel Cuesta Morúa, who last Friday was interrogated by Section 21 of State Security about the same graffiti campaign. According to the organization, the insistence on linking its members with actions promoted from abroad shows an attempt to legitimize new control measures to prevent any critical expression within the framework of December 10.
These incidents occur days after the arrest of the CTDC vice president
The repressive escalation denounced by the CTDC coincides with the most recent figures from the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), which documented at least 225 repressive actions in Novemberincluding 18 arbitrary arrests and 207 abuses of various kinds. The most common violations included illegal detentions in homes, police summonses, threats and attacks against political prisoners. The most affected provinces were Havana, Holguín, Guantánamo and Sancti Spíritus.
“The repression continues in a context of aggravated social crisis, without medicines or food to face the health emergency derived from several simultaneous epidemics. The authorities do not provide solutions and, at the same time, continue to repress any political or citizen initiative,” the OCDH said in the report released this Monday. The organization also warned about the deterioration of health conditions inside prisons, where the lack of medical care aggravates the situation of political prisoners.
“Repression continues in a context of aggravated social crisis”
Last month’s repression also reached spaces outside the Island: the OCDH reported direct threats against 18 journalists and collaborators of the digital media The Touchresidents abroad, which shows the expansion of intimidation methods beyond Cuban borders. “We see with concern the growing use of blacklists to threaten exiled activists in several countries. We hold the Cuban regime responsible for any situation that these people may face,” the organization added.
So far this year, the Observatory has recorded at least 2,883 repressive actions, including 651 illegal detentions in homes and 508 arbitrary detentions. For its part, Prisoners Defenders highlighted that Cuba reached several negative international records in 2025: it became the first country in the world in the number of cases of arbitrary detention, according to the UN Working Group on that matter; It is the second country on the planet by prison population rate and the fourth by number of urgent actions issued by the UN Committee against Forced Disappearances.
In its statement this Tuesday, the CTDC reiterated its “strongest condemnation” of the threats against four activists and expressed its solidarity with those who may be affected by what it described as “a new wave of repression” on the eve of International Human Rights Day. The organization recalled that no government should punish the peaceful exercise of fundamental freedoms and demanded the immediate cessation of measures against its members.
