Cuban mother ends up arrested for asking for food for her son: the child was left alone

A mother from the municipality of Marianao in Havana was arrested by police officers after asking for food for her son, according to a report published on Facebook by neighbor Zea Gisselle.

According to the account, the agents placed the woman in a patrol car and took her to the 6th Station of the PNR in Marianao, leaving the child alone and unaccompanied.

“They took a neighbor into custody for asking for food for her son. They left the child unsupervised, without his mother. They put her in the patrol car and took her away,” wrote Zea Gisselle in her post.

At 1:56 a.m., the complainant reported that the mother had been returned home, but not without consequences.

"They returned the mother to us, issued a warning notice, and they are accusing her of having assaulted her son," denounced Zea Gisselle.

As evidence, the neighbor published the official summons issued by the Ministry of the Interior, which summons the citizen —identified in the document as Yansis Valladares— to appear at 8:30 in the morning before the 6th Station of the PNR in Marianao for an "interview."

The accusation that the mother assaulted her own son reflects a documented repressive pattern in Cuba: criminalizing those who report shortages by reversing the responsibility, turning the victim into the perpetrator.

In March, the Zamora neighborhood was the scene of protests with bonfires and pot-banging driven by food shortages and prolonged blackouts.

After those demonstrations, Zea Gisselle had already reported police surveillance, constant patrols, and summonses for participating mothers. "We are from the neighborhood and demand our rights, but we are not criminals," she wrote at that time.

In May, Marianao was once again the scene of mass protests. Residents blocked the intersection of 100 and 51 Streets after more than twenty hours without electricity, amid a wave of protests that spanned at least nine municipalities in the capital.

In that context, Zea Gisselle published a testimony summarizing the situation: "Cuba is at war, which is the defenseless people against the State."

The Cuban Conflict Observatory recorded 1,245 protests in March 2026, the highest monthly figure since July 11, and 1,133 in April, a 29.5% increase compared to the same month in 2025. Only in April, 176 repressive acts were documented across the island.