Yurisleidis Remedios, a Cuban mother residing in the Altamira neighborhood of Santiago de Cuba, was summoned by the Revolutionary National Police (PNR) to appear before First Lieutenant "Leo" at the Micro 9 unit, which she claims is a direct retaliation for her public criticism of the ruling Miguel Díaz-Canel.
The citation was delivered by an agent who arrived at her home around 10 in the morning without identifying himself and dressed in civilian clothes that were worn out. Remedios tore the document in protest and made it public in several videos streamed on Facebook, where she refused to go to the police station and challenged the authorities to come and get her.
"I am being summoned before the first lieutenant, sector chief, and first lieutenant, Leo. Where I have committed no crime. My only crime is my expression, my way of thinking, my conviction, my freedom of expression. No one can take that away from me," she declared in one of the videos.
In her broadcasts, Remedios directly confronted the Cuban leader: "Listen to what I'm going to tell you, Canel. You want to be respected with an AKM in your hand. You want to demand that a mother who fights for her children to eat respect you with an AKM in her hand. No! Respect is a genuine feeling that is earned, and no one respects you."
The woman reported that her children did not have breakfast on the day of the court appointment and that in the days prior, they could only eat pumpkin sent from the school kitchen. She also reported power outages of up to 21 hours a day in her area of Santiago de Cuba.
"What help is that incompetent, worthless president going to provide? He's letting our children starve. You finished the school year early without final exams, with the kids knowing nothing, nothing!" he lashed out at Díaz-Canel.
Remedios also accused the government of calling parent meetings under false pretenses—such as "seismic preparedness"—to photograph those who do not show loyalty to the regime, and warned her supporters: "Take care of your children, don’t let them leave the house, don’t send them to school, there’s nothing at school and it’s a lie that they are calling them to help, it’s all a lie."
It's not the first time the regime has harassed her. In February 2026, State Security threatened her with immediate detention after a video went viral in which she criticized Díaz-Canel for asking the people for "resistance" while the leadership lives in privilege. On that occasion, she received a call ordering her to hand her children over to relatives because "they were coming to get her."
In November 2025, Remedios had already reported collapsed morgues in Santiago with over 60 deaths per day following Hurricane Melissa, and the complete absence of government aid. That same month, she reported again that she was cooking with firewood inside her apartment due to the lack of gas and electricity.
Your case is part of a documented escalation of repression throughout Cuba. The Cuban Observatory of Conflicts registered more than 1,133 protests and 176 repressive acts just in April 2026, while Prisoners Defenders reported 1,260 political prisoners in May 2026, with a record of 145 women imprisoned for political reasons.
Remedios, which posts more denunciation videos on its Facebook page, ended its broadcasts with a direct message to the regime: "Down with the dictatorship. I couldn't care less about Díaz-Canel, because he couldn't care less about us either."
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