The Cuban independent journalist José Luis Tan Estrada revealed details of his last detention at the State Security barracks in Havana Villa Marista, and affirmed that he will continue defending and reporting the truth.
In a video published on his Facebook profile, the man from Camagüey stated that what would have been a round trip to Havana on April 26 turned into difficult days in Villa Marista.
First he was kidnapped from the bus where he was traveling near the Mayabeque province. From there, State Security agents took him out shouting in front of all the passengers that he was detained for mercenarism.
They handcuffed him, put him in a G2 vehicle and took him to the Cuban capital with his arms and head between his legs.
"They took me to Villa Marista, the pain in my back was very great, the oppression of the handcuffs made my hands feel cold and swollen," he said.
He claims officers told him not to complain or he would be charged with "disobedience and contempt."
Upon arriving at the barracks, Tan Estrada, a reporter for the independent media Cubanet, was forced to undress several times. They checked his clothes and glasses, found a nurse for him and took him to another room where they sent him to undress once again.
He explains that they then "gave him a prisoner's clothing, and told me that from that moment on it was forbidden to tell my name to anyone, or to answer by my name, that from now on I was the prisoner." 3489 and that I had to answer for that number," he said.
He said that he was in a cell with three prisoners and then they moved him to an isolation cell where he did not see sunlight and he was subjected to constant psychological torture, hunger, thirst and sudden interrogations.
"The torture was terrible, they raised and lowered the temperature of the room, I felt very hot or very cold. A repressor came in and said it's very cold here, and turned off the split. Then when it was already very hot, another one came in and turned on the equipment. at the lowest temperature," he explained.
In the cell where you don't see the sun and you have two lights on permanently, you lose track of time. Tan Estrada explains that to disorient him even more, they brought him lunch and a while later they told him that it was time for breakfast.
Also as psychological torture to disorient you, they gave me newspapers with different dates, which made me lose track of the days, he explained.
During his stay in Villa Marista, the independent journalist was not provided with underwear or a toothbrush. Likewise, his stomach problems worsened, causing terrible heartburn.
Breakfast was a sour herbal tea with stale bread, for lunch they gave a very salty hash, he added.
The journalist, who wanted to tell his testimony on the occasion of May 3, World Press Freedom Day, stated that the repressors told him that he had been detained for inciting Cubans not to attend the May Day march, and They accused him of carrying a briefcase with enemy propaganda.
Tan Estrada claims that he was only traveling with a backpack.
The repressors told him that Cubanet He was a mercenary, and they threatened to prosecute him for the humanitarian aid he delivers to unprotected families in Camagüey. They accused him of wanting to politically subvert the people who receive this aid.
Tan Estrada denounces the impunity of the repressors of Villa Marista, because they know that those transferred to that center cannot bring in telephones or any means of recording and are completely defenseless.
Before releasing him with a 4,000 peso fine, they insisted that he leave the country because "we are not going to let you be anyone," they warned him.
"They were days of hunger, thirst, psychological torture, desperation, you couldn't sleep with those two lights on all the time, and when you were trying to sleep they woke you up for a supposed interrogation where they repeated the same thing," he said.
At the end of his message he said that he will continue doing independent journalism in Cuba and especially in Camagüey: "they are not going to silence me," he expressed.
"These torture mechanisms give us more strength to continue fighting against the dictatorship. (...) After this I think about how our political prisoners will be and for them we must also continue fighting," he stressed.
This year Cuba repeated as the worst country in Latin America in terms of press freedom.
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