Habeas Corpus appeal denied to activist who photographed herself wrapped in the Cuban flag

Authorities of the Cuban regime denied the appealHabeas corpus presented on behalf of a citizenarrested after publishing photographs on social networks of her body wrapped in the Cuban flag.

“My mother's arrest was not only arbitrary, but illegal, according to Cuban laws themselves,” he toldRadio Marti, Aniette Ginestá (19 years old), daughter of the Cuban woman detained by theState Security.

Aniette Gonzalez was arrested on March 23 for the publication of photographs in which she wrapped her body in the national flag, in the context of a call for Cuban activists to "reclaim the flag, dislocating it from its status as the sole property of the State and the uses that the ruling party had reserved for it".

González uploaded the images to social networksas part of the initiative #LaFanderaEsDe todos, recently taken up by the journalistHector Luis Valdes Cocho in support of the independent artistLuis Manuel Otero Alcántara, an initiative that was joined by dozens of Cubans on their social networks.

A week after his arrest in Camagüey, the Provincial Court of that province denied the appeal last Friday.Habeas corpus filed in favor of González, in what his daughter described as arbitrary.

"They didn't pay attention to the law. They didn't pay attention to anything," said Ginesta in statements to the aforementioned media. As he explained, once the appeal was denied, his mother was transferred from the State Security headquarters known as Villa María Luisa,to the Kilo 5 women's prison, in Camagüey.

For the young woman, her mother did not commit any crime. However, according to the feminist magazineTense Wings, "Aniette is accused of insulting national symbols, the same crime for which the artist Luis Manuel Otero is currently serving five years in prison."

"The photos really are artistic, they are not vulgar at all," defended Ginesta, for whom the authorities are trying to fabricate a crime against her mother for daring to demonstrate as part of an independent civil society campaign. "Outrage is a word that is too big for him."

For its part,The Cuban Prosecutor's Office requested preventive detention for González and the date to hold the trial is unknown. His daughter expressed her astonishment and indignation at an accusation of “outrage” that does not apply in the case of uses of national symbols for propaganda in favor of the totalitarian regime.

"If someone felt offended by the photos, then why didn't they feel offended when so many athletes, so many artists, wrap themselves in the flag every day or wear sweaters with the flag, wear sweaters on which you can see phrases of I am Fidel... Why are all those people not violating the national insignia and then my mother is?" the young woman questioned.

The arbitrary detention and denial of the appealHabeas corpus They outraged many Cuban activists who denounced on social networks the hypocrisy and repression that the regime exercises on those who exercise their right to free expression.

"This is another example that we have a brutal dictatorship in Cuba, where they simply put you in prison for making your flag part of your body, that is, as long as it is a free Cuban who demonstrates against the dictatorship and against communism, yes is a communist or a bootlicker of the regime is authorized," said other activists who remembered artists likeHaila María Mompié and including ItalianLaura Pausini, which have been photographed with the national flag.

The #LaFlagEsDeEveryone challenge It was initially released a few years ago by theSan Isidro Movement, based in Old Havana, after the arrest of the Cuban artist for presenting his performance with the flag at the Museum of Dissidence.