The Cuban opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer denounced a heavy police presence and acts of repression against young people in several cities in the eastern part of the country amid rising social tension.
Ferrer reported on social media that a significant presence of forces from the Ministry of the Interior was noted in Santiago de Cuba around the Provincial Court, as well as at the provincial and municipal headquarters of the Communist Party and other state institutions, a strategy by the regime to protect its institutions following the protests that occurred this Friday in Morón, Ciego de Ávila.
According to the opposition figure, the increase in police presence occurs in a context of protests and social discontent in various locations across the country, including Morón, Havana, Santiago de Cuba, and other cities.
Ferrer also assured that he was informed from Holguín that three young people were taken to the Lucía Íñiguez clinical surgical hospital after being beaten.
According to the report, one of the teenagers had injuries so severe that the doctors needed to perform X-rays.
The opposition member stated that a police officer commented in the hospital that the young people had been beaten for participating in protests in the street.
In parallel, independent communicator Yosmany Mayeta reported that the first secretary of the Communist Party in Santiago de Cuba, Beatriz Johnson, allegedly issued an order to repress and detain those who protest in the city.
"Johnson gives the order to repress and detain people who decide to protest in Santiago de Cuba. Record every detail of the protests. Your phone is the evidence," Mayeta wrote on social media.
For his part, journalist José Raúl Gallego shared on Facebook a message regarding the situation in Guantánamo: "The headquarters of the Communist Party and the Provincial Government, located on Ahogados Street between 10 and 13 North, are heavily militarized: a large number of patrols, motorized units, two fire trucks, police, special troops, prevention officers, and civilians."
The complaints arise amid reports of protests and increasing police presence in various areas of the country over the past few days, in a context marked by prolonged blackouts, scarcity, and a deterioration of living conditions.
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