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The National Revolutionary Police (PNR) threatened the self-employed individual Didie Gutiérrez Ledesma with confiscating his business and arresting him if he publicly protested again, after summoning him for questioning for participating in a pot-banging demonstration on Tuesday in the Siboney neighborhood of the Playa municipality in the capital.
Gutiérrez Ledesma, owner of a bar-cafeteria set up in the courtyard of his home, struck pots in protest against the situation the country is facing at the corner of 15th and 206th Streets, the same block where Mariela Castro, daughter of former president Raúl Castro and director of Cenesex, resides.
The PNR issued a citation from the Ministry of the Interior summoning him to appear on Thursday before Lieutenant Urlens Martínez Gonzant, under the usual euphemism of "Interview," as reported this Friday Martí Noticias.
During the interrogation, the agents made it clear to him the scope of the reprisals he faced.
"They told me that what I had done, I could not do again, that I was not a hero, that I was a ringleader, that I was the one who incited the neighbors, that I could be accused of incitement to commit a crime, of conspiracy to commit a crime, and of disturbing the public order," Gutiérrez recounted.
The intimidation was direct, as the agents warned him to focus on his private business, implying that he could lose it if he continued to protest.
"I replied that I was simply expressing my dissatisfaction with the system, but they say I can't do it in the street anymore or I'll be arrested," the self-employed worker responded.
Gutiérrez firmly refused to sign a warning letter that the agents tried to get him to endorse at the conclusion of the interrogation.
Before letting him go, the police gave him one last warning. "They told me that I could leave, but if I did anything else in public, they would arrest me," he added.
Far from being intimidated, the self-employed individual invoked a historical reference to explain his position. "I replied that Carlos Manuel de Céspedes was a wealthy man, the owner of a sugar mill, a lot of slaves, and he got involved in a cause and gave everything for the Fatherland, and I was willing to do the same."
The threat of revoking the license illustrates a specific repressive tactic of the regime against the private sector, using the economic vulnerability of self-employed individuals as a lever of deterrence against protest.
In February, the government conducted a price control operation that resulted in 17,000 fines, 300 establishments being closed, and 196 work permits being revoked.
The case is part of a wave of pot-banging protests that have been shaking at least 12 municipalities in Havana since May 12, driven by power outages of up to 22 hours a day and severe shortages of food and water.
The municipality of Playa had already been the scene of repression on May 14, when the police beat protesters during a nighttime demonstration against blackouts.
The Cuban Observatory of Conflicts recorded 1,245 protests in March, the highest monthly number since July 11, 2021, and 1,133 in April, while Cubalex documented at least 14 arrests in Havana for pot-banging protests since March 6.
"I don't bother anyone; I help everyone. I don't believe the neighbors have any complaints about me, but if I can't come to terms with the life I'm living or the one my town is experiencing, seeing even those who were my teachers in school sometimes digging through the trash," concluded Gutiérrez Ledesma.
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