They denounce pressure from the regime on parents of Caimanera protesters to change testimony

The Cuban authorities are putting pressure on the relatives of the young people imprisoned for their participation in the Caimanera protests, so that they retract their testimonies about the beatings they suffered when they were arrested.

The independent journalist Yeris Curbelo Aguilera, from Palenque Vision, reported to the agency CubaNet that State Security summoned the parents of the detainees to change the statements they gave him in the hours after the demonstration.

"They are probably pressuring the families to put them on television, changing the story and lying about what happened, as they have done with other events," he said.

According to the reporter, the political police are insisting that the relatives lie and say that he paid them to falsely accuse the uniformed men of having acted with violence against the protesters.

The family that alerted the reporter assured him that they will not lie, but he does not know what the others will do.

"State Security is pressuring them to give testimony contrary to the interview and to say that they were used by me. They want these parents to say on cameras that I used them, that I interviewed them with the objective not of helping them and give visibility to what happened, but to make money," said the journalist in a video broadcast on the Facebook of CubaNet.

"They are looking for a way to see how they take this case of the young people to television, God knows if it will be to show them in With wire or on the news," he added.

Curbelo Aguilera reported on the massive Caimanera protests, and after the repression unleashed by the regime, he interviewed those close to the protesters who were violently arrested.

For his work, he was summoned by State Security for Monday, May 8, but when he arrived at the station, they told him to leave and that they would contact him later.

Days have passed and he has not been summoned again, so he fears that the government is plotting a larger plan to "punish" him for his denunciation work, and at the same time prevent him from continuing with his journalistic work.

The activist identified and told the independent press who the first five detainees were - last week a sixth was arrested - and spoke with their relatives, who They recounted the brutal repression to which they were subjected and demanded their release.