Several public complaints from Cuban activists and journalists have once again highlighted the repression, this time during the televised funeral of the Cuban military personnel who died in Venezuela.
In the images broadcast by state television, during the tribute to the fallen, State Security agents appeared who for years have been accused of harassment, threats, violent interrogations, and constant surveillance against independent civil society.
One of the names that appears most frequently in the testimonies is that of the officer known as "Darío." For the activist Carolina Barrero, he is not just any face. He is the man who, according to her account, spent a year following her, listening to her conversations, and subjecting her to interrogations characterized by psychological harassment and direct threats.
"Here, anyone can have an accident and wake up with their mouth full of ants," he told her once during an interrogation in La Lisa. Barrero claims that his mission was to break her down through fear and insomnia, although he asserts that he never managed to intimidate her.
The identification of “Darío” in the images from the funeral was not an isolated incident. Hamlet Lavastida, artist and activist, confirmed that he is the same officer who arrested him in June 2021 and subjected him to interrogations in Villa Marista, operational houses, and forced relocations, until his expulsion from the country along with Katherine Bisquet.
According to his testimony, the agent warned him that he would be waiting for him at the airport if he continued to speak out against the regime from exile. He also visited his mother to inform her about the consequences of a potential return to Cuba.
Following that initial identification, other whistleblowers began to recognize more faces. Laura Vargas explained that, while reviewing segments of the video broadcast by Canal Caribe, she was able to identify several agents who have participated in interrogations, surveillance, and seizures against journalists, artists, and activists.
The patterns repeat themselves, with officials who use multiple aliases, presenting themselves with different military ranks as it suits them, and acting with particular savagery against independent media and critical projects. Some are described as particularly irascible, prone to direct threats and family blackmail.
Another accuser recounted the emotional impact of seeing in those images one of her interrogators, “Juan Carlos,” leisurely strolling with his children during a cultural event in Havana, after subjecting her to nine hours of questioning at Villa Marista and filing a criminal case against her for "mercenarism."
The scene, she says, revealed to her the brutal contrast between the private lives of those who suppress and the harm they cause from the shadows. In the same audiovisual material, she also identified "Guillermo," another agent who monitored her until her departure from the country.
The testimonies agree on something essential: the same men who pursue, threaten, and criminalize Cuban citizens are now present at official events, captured by the cameras of the very system that protects them.
For many, this visibility has symbolic value. It’s not just about identifying faces, but about making a mark, building memory, and breaking the anonymity that has ensured impunity for years.
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