The Cuban Alfredito Fominaya posted a video on Facebook in which he publicly denounces that State Security has him in their sights and plans to fabricate a criminal case to imprison him, solely for expressing his opinions.
In the reel, filmed in what appears to be his personal studio, Fominaya narrates that a state agent approached a friend of his to convey a warning, making it clear that since they cannot arrest him for exercising his constitutional right to express an opinion, they will fabricate a charge against him.
"I am under threat of being imprisoned. A friend was approached and told that State Security has me in their sights, that they are going to fabricate a case against me, that they will do something, they will link me to something, they will come up with something; they are creative in doing so," Fominaya stated.
The young man directly pointed to the repressive apparatus as responsible for whatever may happen to him: "I hold State Security responsible for anything that could happen to my life. For anything that may happen to my family, I hold State Security accountable. What I have done is exercise my constitutional right to express my opinion. There is no crime in what I do."
Fominaya is not an unknown voice in the Cuban critical space on social media. On March 29, he made headlines with a widely circulated response to the troubadour Silvio Rodríguez, following the controversy in which the regime presented him with a real AKM rifle during an official event presided over by Miguel Díaz-Canel. Fominaya replied: "You chose to carry the wrong instrument. You preferred to carry an AKM to perpetuate the oppressor instead of taking the guitar, which is what you know how to use to inspire the people."
That public visibility may have intensified State Security's scrutiny of their activities.
The mechanism denounced by Fominaya —indirect threats through third parties and fabrication of criminal charges— is well documented by organizations such as Cubalex, Human Rights Watch, and Prisoners Defenders.
Cases like that of the influencer Anna Bensi, placed under house arrest in March, or the members of the project El4tico, arrested in February in Holguín for "propaganda against the constitutional order," illustrate the same pattern.
According to Prisoners Defenders, by the end of February, Cuba had 1,214 political prisoners. The mass pardon announced on April 2 for 2,010 inmates explicitly excluded those convicted of "crimes against authority," the category under which regime opponents and critics typically fall.
"For expressing my opinion, it cannot be that one has to face this type of threats and repression. Freedom for my homeland. God has control over my life, my home, my family, over everything I do, and He will continue to have it," Fominaya concluded in his statement.
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