Jorge Fernández Era recounts his experience after identifying repressors at the funeral of Cuban soldiers who died in Venezuela

The Cuban journalist Jorge Fernández Era shared on his social media his experience with several State Security agents, whom he identified among the repressors recently recognized on Cuban television. In his text, titled “Behind the Facade”, the communicator reacted to the post by artist Hamlet Lavastida, who had shared a fragment of the televised funeral of 32 Cuban soldiers who died in Venezuela, where several political police agents were visible.

Fernández Era explained that in those images appears the repressor known as “Darío,” whom Lavastida identified as the agent who played a central role in his detention and subsequent exile alongside the writer Katherine Bisquet. The journalist recalled that this very man harassed him at different times: “The so-called ‘Darío’ (in the checkered shirt) was evidently the one who contacted my friend Lara Crofs by phone when we left the Infanta and Manglar Unit on the day she accompanied me to retrieve my identity card, after the kidnapping orchestrated by the sons of a bad mother who forced me to enter the guardhouses of the Amenidad clinic and the Miguel Enríquez Hospital on August 18, 2024,” he wrote.

The journalist also mentioned other agents present in the video who have harassed him in the past. He pointed out that two of them "have been present throughout the dirty process that they concocted against me since January 2023" and recalled that one of them, identified as "The Handcuff Man," transported him in a patrol car "on November 28, 2023, from the Brisas del Mar checkpoint to Santos Suárez, in a flashy return filled with psychological torture."

Regarding another agent, whom he described as "the one with glasses," Fernández Era stated that "he was also the one who filmed the unfortunate video about me that the Security released to deny the barrage of blows. He must already have enough material to make a feature film, as he spends his time pointing the camera at me," he added with irony.

The journalist announced that he would continue participating in the peaceful demonstrations held on the 18th of each month in Cuba to demand the release of political prisoners and the calling of a Constituent Assembly. “Today I will stand starting at four in the afternoon and for one hour in Central Park in Havana, in front of the monument to José Martí,” he wrote, referring to the civic protests he leads alongside Professor Alina Bárbara López Hernández.

The text concludes with a reflection on the personal cost of that public exposure and the decision to stand firm against the harassment from State Security: “I expose myself to the possibility that the 'brave' agents of State Security will take revenge on me for the sheer folly of coming into the public eye. They know that I do not fear them, no matter how extensive my file is and the punishment that awaits me for confronting them. Their condemnation from history is far worse.”

The images that led to these identifications were broadcast on state television during the funeral for Cuban military personnel who died in Venezuela, where several activists and artists, including Hamlet Lavastida, recognized State Security officials linked to cases of repression and harassment against civil society. In that broadcast, several of these agents were identified for the first time, whose faces and names were later confirmed by other reporters.

Fernández Era's post provoked a wide response on social media, with messages of solidarity, indignation, and support for his decision to continue participating in peaceful demonstrations within Cuba. Many of the comments emphasized the importance of publicly documenting the faces of the oppressors and keeping alive the memory of those who have suffered political harassment on the island.

UPDATE:

Hours after Jorge Fernández Era's publication, his wife, Laideliz Herrera Laza, reported on her Facebook profile that the journalist had not returned home after participating in the peaceful demonstration mentioned in his text.

“My husband, Jorge Fernández Era, left at 3:00 p.m. for Central Park to exercise his constitutional right to peacefully assemble, and ,” wrote Herrera Laza on the night of Saturday.