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The independent journalist and activist Yoani Sánchez, director of the digital media 14ymedio, was arrested this Wednesday in the streets of Havana by State Security agents, in an attempt to prevent her from attending a diplomatic reception organized by the U.S. chief of mission in Cuba, Mike Hammer.
According to the report published by 14ymedio, the arrest took place as Sánchez was heading to the residence of the U.S. diplomat, where an event would be held to mark the beginning of the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States.
The operation also involved her husband, journalist Reinaldo Escobar, who was intercepted by agents in civilian clothes after exiting through another door of the building and forced to return.
Intercepted in the middle of the street and escorted back home
Sánchez explained that she was followed for several minutes by a young agent, without a uniform and with his face partially covered, who called her by her name but refused to identify himself.
Shortly thereafter, the man requested reinforcements by phone, although he apparently could not specify his exact location, which the journalist attributed to a common practice of the Ministry of the Interior: sending reinforcements from eastern provinces who are unfamiliar with the city to Havana.
The decisive moment occurred at the intersection of Ayestarán Avenue and First Street in the Plaza de la Revolución municipality, where Sánchez was approached by the agent and three other individuals—one man and two women—who joined the operation.
The two men showed an ID card with the initials DSE (Department of State Security), while the women never identified themselves.
"You can't go out until tomorrow."
The agents ordered him to walk back to his home and imposed a movement restriction until the following day.
"Perhaps because they don't have gasoline," Sánchez quipped, alluding to the energy and fuel crisis that even affects the regime's repressive apparatus.
The four agents escorted her to the lower level of her residence and made it clear that the sole reason for the operation was to prevent her from attending the diplomatic event.
"Of course he was going there, where else would he be going?" the journalist heard one of the agents say.
A repressive pattern against journalists and opponents
The event to which Sánchez and Escobar had been invited was set to take place at 5:00 p.m. at Hammer's residence in the Playa municipality, with a special appearance by Rob Allison, the coordinator for Cuba affairs at the State Department.
The detention of Sánchez was not an isolated case. According to the report itself, other activists and opponents such as Boris González, Berta Soler, and Ángel Moya also faced police operations at their homes to prevent them from participating.
These types of actions are part of the Cuban regime's usual practices: the use of arbitrary detentions, surveillance, and extrajudicial restrictions to block any contact between independent civil society and foreign diplomatic representatives.
Permanent repression in a country without freedoms
The episode reaffirms once again that in Cuba there is no freedom of movement or minimal guarantees for the practice of independent journalism.
While the regime tries to project an image of normalcy to the international community, it continues to use its political police to isolate, intimidate, and punish dissenting voices, even through impromptu operations in public spaces.
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