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The Cuban Christian activist Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente, known as Anna Bensi, reported this Friday the permanent loss of her WhatsApp account and the hacking of both her and her mother’s Telegram accounts, Caridad Silvente, warning her contacts about potential fraudulent messages sent from those compromised profiles.
"I definitely lost my WhatsApp account. So if any of my contacts receive a message from that account or message me and it shows as delivered, IT'S NOT ME," wrote the 21-year-old on Facebook.
In the same post, she extended the alert to the messaging platform Telegram: "My mom and I also lost our Telegram accounts. Neither of us has control over those profiles."
The activist was straightforward in pointing out the responsible party, urging her followers "not to believe in any type of scam or tactics from the Dictatorship".
The complaint comes just two days after ETECSA coordinated the deactivation of the phone lines of Anna Bensi, her mother, and other Christian activists —including Pastor David Espinosa and his wife Laidy García— between 10:20 and 10:23 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22.
That very morning, at 2:00 a.m. on Thursday the 23rd, Anna's WhatsApp account was deactivated for the second time, just hours after she had recovered it at 5:00 p.m. the day before.
The Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP) publicly condemned these attacks, describing them as attempts by State Security to prevent the activist's reports.
The systematic harassment against the young woman began on March 10, when she and her mother recorded and published the irregular delivery of a summons by the MININT officer Yoel Leodán Rabaza Ramos.
The authorities accused them of violating privacy under Article 393 of the Penal Code, which stipulates penalties of two to five years in prison.
On March 25, both were charged and placed under house arrest with a prohibition on leaving the country. On April 9, American diplomat Mike Hammer, head of the U.S. Embassy mission in Cuba, visited them and stated that "their only crime has been defending their beliefs, their faith."
On April 10, Anna's sister, Elmis Rivero Silvente, a U.S. citizen, was interrogated and threatened by State Security before flying to Miami. The agents warned her that "Trump will invade Cuba and the first missile will go to your home."
On April 13 and 14, Anna was summoned and interrogated for over two hours at the Alamar police station along with her mother, and was released following public pressure.
The pattern of hacking messaging accounts targeting activists and independent journalists in Cuba is documented by the ICLEP, which has recorded similar cases against journalist Mario J. Pentón and the independent media outlet CubaNet.
Anna Bensi, who is facing criminal charges and house arrest while her communication channels are systematically sabotaged, summarized her situation on April 15 with a phrase that reflects the accumulated pressure: "I decided to leave my life and that of my family in God's hands".
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