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The United States Department of State commented on the detention of the young Cubans Kamil Zayas Pérez and Ernesto Ricardo Medina, members of the audiovisual project El4tico.
"The illegitimate Cuban regime continues its daily acts of repression and abuse," said the Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs of the Department of State on X.
"Detained El4tico Kamil Zayas Pérez and Ernesto Ricardo Medina in Holguín, simply for denouncing the poor economic management of the dictatorship."
El4tico is a dissident space that emerged in Holguín, where Medina and Zayas challenge power from a small room turned into a studio, blending analysis and socio-political critiques of the Cuban reality.
With thousands of followers online, it is one of the most visible alternative spaces in Cuba.
The arrest of both young people took place during a police operation in which the agents took computers, phones, cameras, and work equipment they were using to document their work.
According to the platform Citizenship and Freedom, they were transferred to the Criminal Instruction headquarters in Holguín, known as "Everyone Sings," a center noted for practices of violent interrogation and degrading treatment.
Legal remedy in favor of the detainees
This Wednesday, activist Yanet Rodríguez Sánchez presented a habeas corpus petition in favor of the members of El4tico before the Provincial Court of Holguín.
Ciudadanía y Libertad announced on Facebook that the document has been registered and sealed with the reference RE91.
"This resource demands that the court request official information from the Criminal Instruction regarding the situation of both young individuals: their exact location, the formal charges under which they are detained, the case number assigned to them, and the material conditions of their detention," the note adds.
Wave of solidarity
Activists and social media users have expressed solidarity with those detained under the hashtag #TodosSomosEl4tico.
Various public figures, including Luis Alberto García and Ulises Toirac, have called for the human rights of Zayas and Medina to be respected and for their release.
The U.S. Embassy in Cuba also demanded their immediate release.
The detention occurs in a national context marked by blackouts, inflation, mass migration, and social discontent, where any voice that questions the system is viewed as a threat and treated as a security issue, rather than as a legitimate exercise of expression.
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