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The Cuban historian and activist Alina Bárbara López Hernández reported this Sunday through her Facebook account that her mobile phone line was cloned approximately three weeks ago, and she warned that any messages from the aforementioned number do not come from her.
"About three weeks ago, that line was cloned. Anyone who receives messages from me on WhatsApp from the number 58682862 should know that it’s not me, but the 'fifth best police in the world,'" López wrote in his post, sarcastically alluding to Cuba's State Security.
The professor explained that since early 2023, access to her mobile phone line was cut off by the authorities, although she managed to keep WhatsApp linked from another device sporadically, until that access was also compromised through cloning.
As evidence, he attached a screenshot from WhatsApp showing the "Confirm the transfer" screen, where his number +53 5 8682862 is registered on another phone without his authorization, with the message: "It is already registered on another phone. For your security, a confirmation notice was sent to that device."
The cloning of phone lines is a cybersecurity technique that allows the duplication of the unique identifier of a SIM card to intercept calls, messages, and applications like WhatsApp. In Cuba, the state company ETECSA controls all telecommunications, which facilitates the regime's access to and control over the lines of activists and dissidents.
The expression "fifth best police in the world," which López uses ironically, has origins in Cuban official propaganda, which has used it without support from any independent international ranking.
The complaint falls within a systematic pattern of harassment. On April 18, López was arrested at the Playa Police Unit in Matanzas while attempting to carry out her monthly civic protest, and was held for almost ten hours without being able to communicate with anyone.
On February 18, she was detained for 12 hours on charges of "disrespect" while on her way to deliver a letter regarding amnesty to the Municipal Assembly. In December 2025, the regime detained her along with her daughter Lilian Borroto López and the writer Jorge Fernández Era.
Since March 2023, López has been holding peaceful protests on the 18th of each month at the Liberty Park in Matanzas, demanding amnesty for political prisoners, a constituent assembly, and an end to repression. On April 18, 2024, she reported being beaten and tortured in a police patrol.
She is currently facing charges of "disobedience" and "contempt," with a trial indefinitely suspended by Judge Ysenia Rodríguez Vázquez and an active precautionary measure of house arrest. She has also been expelled from the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) due to her civic stance.
Only on April 26, López defended an independent survey conducted by over 20 alternative media outlets and activists, which revealed that more than 90% of those surveyed are very dissatisfied with the current system in Cuba, and over 80% identify the lack of civil and political freedoms as the main issue in the country. The regime attempted to block and attack this initiative, which López described as evidence of the "bankruptcy of Cuban totalitarianism."
The cloning of his phone line represents a new escalation in the campaign of surveillance and harassment against one of the most persistent and recognized civic voices in Cuba, who has been resisting repression from Matanzas for over three years with monthly protests that the regime has not been able to silence.
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