Cuban activist after being released: They told me that if I did not collaborate with State Security I would be confronted

The human rights activist has reported that she received “threats,” and the promise “that all that can change” in her favor if she collaborates with State Security.

01/10/2019 - 9:21am (GMT-5) |

Cargando — Nancy Alfaya Photo © Facebook/ Nancy Alfaya

This article is from 4 years ago

Nancy Alfaya Hernandez, one of the main promoters of the campaignUnitedforOurRights, was detained and threatened this Monday in Havana. After being released, she told details on her social networks about what happened during her “forced disappearance,” until she was released at 7 p.m.

Alfaya has explained that she was stopped on the street by two police officers and “Major Alejandro” when she was leaving her house with her husband, the former prisoner of conscience, Jorge Olivera.

The agents denied Olivera information about where they were taking her and took her to the Cuba and Chacón police station, in Old Havana, where she was subjected to intense interrogation by Major Alejandro for four hours.

The human rights activist has reported that she received “threats” to stop her activism in defense of women's rights, and was told that “all that can change” in her favor if she collaborates with State Security, which your life may be “different” if you make that decision, but otherwise it will be “confronted and repressed.”

“My response was that I am a woman with freedom of conscience of thought and action and my principles and ideas are non-negotiable. "I am a peaceful, Christian woman who loves what I do, I am committed to God and to this peaceful and fair fight that calls for respect for women's rights and the cessation of political violence," said the activist.

"This repression and cruelty against me confirms the political violence against women activists who have decided to defend our rights," concludes Alfaya, who cites as an example the repression against the Ladies in White, who are in prison, and those who are accused, kidnapped and regulated every day so that they abandon their fight.

Alfaya has stressed that although the authorities oppose their efforts to fight for female empowerment on the Island, they will not achieve it.

On September 20, Nancy Alfaya and Marthadela Tamayo, also a member of the Women's Network for Equality (RMI) in Cuba, werevictims of a repressive operation by State Security, when they were prevented from carrying out an activity they had scheduled.

Alfaya and Tamayo, coordinator and organizer, respectively, of the entity belonging to the Citizen Committee for Racial Integration (CIR), had made a massive call to Cuban women to attend the Gender Roundtable scheduled for that day. The late meeting was part of the “United for Our Rights” campaign and the launch of a Gender Guide, developed by Tamayo during months of study in Washington, United States, was also scheduled.

“United for Our Rights” is a campaign led by the Cuban Alliance for Inclusion (ACI) and the Cuban Women's Network, whose objective is to “eradicate political violence against women” and make public the recent wave of arrests, threats and restrictions.

In turn, the organizers aim to demand from the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) three basic actions to reduce violence against all women on the Island:updating data on femicides, the preparation of officials to respond to complaints of violence, andthe classification of gender violence in Cuba, as a crime, in the Penal Code or through a specific law.