The Cuban police detained Erich Alain Chang Padrón, a construction worker, after he posted a video on social media in which he harshly criticized the government and called the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel "brazen, worthless, a nobody," according to a video posted on his Facebook profile.
The report of the arrest first came from the independent media ClickCuba and later from journalist Mario Vallejo on Facebook.
Vallejo described Erich as the support of his household and caretaker of his 100-year-old grandmother, emphasizing that "he was not asking for luxuries, but claiming the basics: light, food, and dignity."
In the complaint video posted on his Facebook profile, the young man identified himself as a bricklayer, plumber, and electrician: "I fight every day for bread, day by day. For my children, for my grandmother, who is one hundred years old."
Erich recounted that the blackouts ruined the food he had stored: "Sometimes it's ten, eleven at night and I can't sleep thinking about what I'm going to eat tomorrow. Right now, look, there's a huge blackout. My food went bad. Picadillo, chicken, it all spoiled."
In the same video, the Cuban denounced a widespread crisis: "Worry about the situation in the country, which is quite chaotic. Minors are prostituting themselves, vulnerable people are eating from the trash because they cannot afford anything."
He also warned that "they are not going to silence me, no way. Every day I am going to spread that. I am not a hero, nor do I want to be a hero."
Erich said he suspected that state agents were watching him on social media and planned to "kidnap" him for speaking the truth, and he recalled that he was the son of a military officer.
ClickCuba, for its part, shared another video in which it claims that Erich was detained after that live broadcast and that, according to the information received, he was transferred to the Fourth Unit of Cerro.
The detention occurs amid the worst documented energy crisis in Cuba, with an electric deficit that reached a record of 2,153 MW on May 13 and was at 2,053 MW on May 17, with an availability of only 1,147 MW against a demand of 3,200 MW.
The case of Erich is not isolated. In April, a young man from Ciego de Ávila was detained and threatened with criminal charges for posting criticisms of the government on social media. This past Sunday, it was reported that the Cuban prosecutor’s office is seeking up to 13 years in prison for three UNPACU activists for a peaceful protest against power outages held in November 2024.
According to Prisoners Defenders, Cuba reached an absolute record of 1,260 political prisoners by the end of April 2026, with documented cases of torture, sexual assaults, and death threats within the penitentiary system. Since July 11, 2021, more than 2,048 people have been incarcerated in Cuban prisons for political reasons.
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