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Ewald Nieves Manduley, a communicator with nearly 23 years of experience in the Municipal Cultural Sector of Guáimaro, Camagüey, was dismissed in early March as a direct retaliation for a post he made on his personal Facebook profile, where he questioned the manipulation of José Martí's image by Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution.
The text did not have an institutional character nor was it published through official channels, but it touched on a particularly sensitive point for the regime: the appropriation of Martí's ideology as a pillar of historical legitimacy for the so-called "revolution." The response was immediate and orchestrated at the provincial level.
According to the complaint from Cubalex, the provincial director of Culture in Camagüey, Kenny Ortigas Guerrero, first met at the headquarters of the Communist Party of Cuba in Guáimaro with the Mayor Norge Suárez Tamayo, a State Security officer identified as Frank "El Niño", and other officials to coordinate actions against Nieves Manduley before formally proceeding with the dismissal.
The pattern is not new. In March 2026, another similar case shook public opinion when a professor was expelled from CUJAE for Facebook posts, triggering a wave of reactions that included student protests and statements of condemnation from public figures in Cuban culture.
Workplace retaliation for expressing oneself on social media is one of the most widespread forms of political control in Cuba. Decree-Law 370 has been highlighted by Human Rights Watch as a tool that systematically restricts freedom of expression on the internet by penalizing opinions voiced from personal digital platforms.
The origins of this type of reprisal date back at least to 2021, when a university professor was expelled for his ideological stance expressed on Facebook, or when Cuban actor Edel Carrero lost his job following the protests on July 11th.
The overall context of repression in Cuba is alarming. According to the semiannual report by Cubalex on repression and human rights, the organization recorded more than 1,273 violations in the second half of 2025, reflecting a sustained escalation of state actions against citizens who dare to dissent.
The case of Ewald Nieves Manduley illustrates how the Cuban regime uses state employment as a tool for political discipline: anyone who expresses opinions outside the official narrative, even in their personal profile, can lose decades of work overnight.
The regime has also condemned citizens for protesting during power outages, solidifying a pattern of criminalizing any form of protest or public dissent.
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