State Security detains independent journalist for covering animal rights march in Cuba

Armando Sardines, journalist and collaborator ofCubaNet, was arrested last Sunday, April 14, by agents of theState Security while documenting the"Dog Day" march at the Columbus Cemetery in Havana.

The regime's repressors kept him under arrest and incommunicado for seven hours, subjecting him to intense interrogation, according to information published by the aforementioned independent media.

"Today while I was making and finishing a Live broadcast for @CubanetNoticias documenting the pilgrimage made to the grave of Jeannette Ryder, animal protector, which was organized by Aniplat, when I finished the broadcast and set foot on the outskirts from the Colón cemetery I was arrested and taken to the Zapata and C station," the reporter said on his social networks.

The incident occurred while Sardiñas was broadcasting live the pilgrimage to the tomb of the animal protector, an annual activity carried out bypro-animal activists in Cuba., and that this year was carried out in the middle ofstrong pressure from State Security.

The event took place in the context of the arrest of three individuals in San José de las Lajas, province of Mayabeque, who had been surprisedkilling dogs in the town and then selling their meat as if it were edible.

In the video recorded by Sardiñas, you can see two women dressed in civilian clothes, accompanied by a uniformed police officer, requesting their documents and phone number, which constitutes a flagrant violation of their rights.

The reporter later explained that after his arrest at the Cemetery, he was taken to the Zapata y C police station, where he was threatened with being imprisoned "because they know what he does."

"All that time I was handcuffed without having attacked anyone or having committed any crime," denounced Sardiñas, who was later transferred to the Altahabana station in the Boyeros municipality, where the interrogation and threats continued.

"Then [they took me] to the Alta Habana station, in the municipality where I currently live. I was there for long hours from 11:00 to 5:30, practically kidnapped without anyone knowing about me, without allowing me a call, like they usually do. Once again I was threatened with prison of up to 15 years and with family, even friends for just being a 'journalist and reporter' forCubaNet", denounced Sardiñas in X.

In this place, State Security opened a follow-up file and gave him "a warning" for filming in the Colón Cemetery. "I was detained from 11:00 in the morning until 6:00 in the afternoon," said Sardiñas.

It is important to note that Armando Sardiñas had been sentenced to 10 months of correctional work with confinement in the La Lima camp, in Guanabacoa (Havana), in October 2021 for his participation inthe historic anti-government protests of 11J. Since then, both he and his family have been subjected to harassment by the political police.