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The Cuban historian and professor Alina Bárbara López Hernández reported that she was detained this Saturday for nearly 10 hours at the Playa unit of the National Revolutionary Police in Matanzas, after being intercepted while attempting to carry out her monthly civic protest.
In a Facebook post, López recounted that he stayed in the police station's meeting room from 8:00 in the morning until 5:30 in the evening.
He described that the venue was filled with photographs of the leader Miguel Díaz-Canel, whom he accused of lying in a recent interview with a journalist from the American TV network NBC in which he claimed that no one in Cuba is detained for criticizing the government.
The activist shared that during much of her detention, she was supervised by two officers, and one of them was accompanied by her 10-year-old daughter, apparently because there was no one else to look after her.
Due to the presence of the minor, he explained, he refrained from making loud protests during the initial hours to avoid frightening her.
During that time, she mentioned that she read a novel by the Matanzas writer Carlos Zamora Rodríguez in one sitting, which she had with her, along with water and cookies, because she suspected she would be detained.
Later, she was taken to an office where a trainer from the Ministry of the Interior was waiting for her, and they had a tense conversation.
According to her testimony, the official stated that there are no political prisoners in Cuba and that those imprisoned following the protests on July 11, 2021, committed common crimes.
López stated that he responded by accusing the instructor of lying and began shouting several times, "Freedom for political prisoners."
According to the official version, the arrest was due to the activist violating the house arrest order imposed on her. The investigator also allegedly threatened to "readjust" that measure.
The historian responded that the judicial process against her has been halted for nearly a year in the Municipal Court of Matanzas, which, in her view, is part of a strategy to keep her indefinitely under house arrest along with the sociologist Jenny Pantoja Torres.
López stated that he will continue to disobey that measure because he considers it illegitimate and a "judicial farce" that violates his civil rights.
Upon leaving the police station, he claimed to have started shouting slogans such as "Freedom for political prisoners," "Down with the dictatorship," and "Amnesty now."
The arrest occurs in a context of systematic harassment against the activist. Since March 2023, López has been holding peaceful protests every 18th at the Parque de la Libertad in Matanzas, demanding amnesty for political prisoners, a constituent assembly, and an end to repression.
Since June 18, 2024, she has been under house arrest as a precautionary measure, after being accused of "assault" along with Pantoja Torres, in a process where the prosecution is seeking four years in prison.
The trial, which was scheduled for January 30, 2026, at the People's Municipal Court of Matanzas, has been indefinitely postponed by Judge Ysenia Rodríguez Vázquez citing a reorganization of judicial activities, with no new date set as of now.
López also recalled that on April 18, 2024, she was detained, beaten, and tortured inside a police patrol at the Bacunayagua checkpoint. She reported the assault to the Military Prosecutor's Office in the Matanzas region, but, according to her, no action was taken against those responsible.
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