SANTIAGO DE CUBA. – On October 18, Luis Adrián Pupo García, 35 years old, was detained by officers of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) in the central park of the town of La Maya, in Santiago de Cuba, when he expressed his dissatisfaction with the energy crisis in the country.
Pupo García specifically complained about the total blackout occurred from October 18 to 22 after the disconnection of the National Electroenergy System (SEN).
According to eyewitnesses of the arrest interviewed by CubaNetPupo García, who was with several other people at the site of the demonstration, “began to criticize the Government loudly.” At that moment, two police officers who were in the area detained him and transferred him to the La Maya police unit. The sources, who asked to protect their identity for fear of reprisals, also assured that “at no time” did Pupo García resist arrest.
“That day the town was full of police, anticipating any protests. I was passing by when I heard Adrián talking and knew I was going to be in trouble. The agents approached him and immediately took him away. He told them: ‘Take me, you’ll have to let me go,’” he told CubaNet one of the interviewees.
According to Roberto Serrano, friend and lodge brother of Pupo García, at the station the officers “wanted to confiscate his phone because they believed he was recording, but he refused and they physically attacked him, to which he responded.” For this reason he is still detained, under alleged preventive detention.
His mother was able to see him last Friday, seven days into his detention, after the authorities informed her that they would impose charges on her son. Although they have not said what the alleged crime Pupo García is accused of is, his family believes it could be “contempt” due to the altercation he had with the police.
“Adrián is a peaceful, noble man. Anyone who knows him can attest to this. He reacted because they pushed him, because the Cuban authorities usually provoke citizens who are annoying to them, to fabricate causes for them and get them out of the way. They have been stalking Adrián for a long time because of his posture, they were watching him,” said Roberto Serrano.
Pupo García, a graduate in Physical Culture and member of the Masonic Lodge, was the young man who interrupted during his speech to the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez during his visit to La Maya last March. For this reason he was interrogated and began to be monitored by agents of the State Security of La Maya.
