Fernández Era resigns from La Joven Cuba due to censorship: "With her silence, she has also become a cover-up"

The Cuban writer and journalistJorge Fernandez Era resigned from continuing to collaborate with the mediumYoung Cuba (LJC), after his last humor column had been censored, in whichsatirized the political police of the regime Cuban.

"I make public what should have been my Sunday humor column forYoung Cuba today, April 23, 2023, with a caricature of Wimar, censored by the magazine's director,Harold Cardenas Lema, because, according to him, it does not conform to his editorial line," Fernández Era reported in a publication of hissocial networks which he titled "Goodbye."

A critical voice within Cuba, the writer is known for his sharp analysis and biting comments on Cuban reality, published on his social networks, but which also made their way through the pages ofLJC, an "independent" media that publishes "political analyzes of reality", from progressive and left-wing visions.

Under the spotlightState Security, journalistHe was summoned in January for an "interview" with the repressors of the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), which he did not attend because he considered that it contained "formal errors and substantive darkness."

Since then, the harassment and hostility has been constant on the part of the political police and the uniformed repressors, who have been in charge of setting up surveillance operations in front of his home, calling him on the phone and sending him all kinds of messages in order to intimidate him, includingimpose a precautionary measure of "prohibition of leaving the country".

At the beginning of April,Fernández Era was arrested on the street As he walked with his wife,Laideliz Herrera Laza, because "it was circulated." After several hours of arbitrary detention and a wave of solidarity on social networks,the Cuban regime released him. His case was beginning to become too visible and uncomfortable.

Every time the author received signals from State Security, he made it public on his social networks with texts of fine irony and lucid argumentation. The collection of these in recent times began to form acorpus worrying for the totalitarian regime, which saw how some of them appeared published inLJC.

This Sunday, the controversial director of the magazine, Cárdenas Lema, decided that he would not publish the comedian's latest collaboration because it disqualified "projects and institutions about which we prefer to do political analysis and not approach them as satire."

According to Fernández Era, by using this justification, the director ofLJC refers to "Bridges of Love and State Security", a project and an institution that are treated sarcastically by the writer.

"Director ofYoung Cuba considers my fight with the Security, the National Revolutionary Police and other bodies and organizations that in one way or another have become complicit in the harassment of Jorge Fernández Era, as a 'personal fight,'" he said.

In that sense, he reminded Cárdenas Lema that, after his arrest,LJC He urged "the Cuban authorities to respect the freedom of expression and political guarantees of all citizens" and demanded the "immediate release of Era."

However, after expressing in such terms his concern about the arbitrary detention of the intellectual,LJC He refused to publish the text "Circulated", which the journalist finally published on his social networks.

"After my arbitrary arrest on Thursday, April 6, a chain of events has taken place that reaffirms a coherent line of action by the repressive bodies.The Young Cuba, with its silence, has also become a cover-up," said Fernández Era.

This Sunday, after the decision not to publish his satirical column titled "Contract", the author decided to renounce his "condition as a collaborator ofYoung Cuba, which adds to similar decisions of my colleagues and brothersAlina Bárbara López Hernández, coordinator, andJosé Manuel González Rubines, web editor, both members of the Editorial Board".