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The case of Eddy Ceballos, the 38-year-old Cuban comedian and creator of the satirical channel Despingovery Channel, has reached major international media following his arrest last week in Havana, with the New York Post describing his detention as that of "the latest in a series of Cubans arrested for documenting the deteriorating conditions on the island."
Ceballos was arrested last Monday during a large police operation near his home in Havana, with the agents not allowing him to enter his house or inform his wife. Since then, he has been detained in a criminal investigation unit without having been formally charged with any crime.
The trigger for the arrest was a video published on May 24 in which Ceballos explored an abandoned military facility with Soviet missiles from the 1960s, radar systems, and Cold War bunkers in a state of advanced deterioration. "An air-to-ground missile from around the 1960s, from the Cold War. I never cease to be amazed by the things I find that are completely forgotten," he said in that video, which garnered 68,000 views and 750 comments on YouTube.
The prosecutor has threatened to charge Ceballos with "revealing military secrets" or "illegal entry into a military facility," according to his family. However, his defense attorney, Alain Espinosa, was emphatic about it in statements to the Miami Herald: "That is a crime that neither exists in military nor in civil code. To keep him detained for more than 24 hours, they should have formally charged him and informed him of the alleged crime and the elements supporting that accusation."
In the event of being detained, Ceballos recorded a video weeks earlier with explicit instructions to make it public if he was arrested. In that message, addressed to his compatriots, he stated: "I have been separated from my home, my family, and my daughter, which once again demonstrates the true nature of the Cuban government, showing that there is not even a shred of freedom of expression or respect for human rights."
Despingovery Channel went viral in April 2025 with parodies in the style of David Attenborough's nature documentaries, where Ceballos narrated with a pseudoscientific tone about the potholes, ruins, and dilapidated infrastructure of Cuba. The name is a play on words between "Discovery Channel" and "despingo," a term from Cuban slang that refers to chaos and ruin.
The video that prompted the arrest stands in stark contrast to the propaganda that the Cuban regime has disseminated for months to showcase its alleged military readiness, against a backdrop of increasing tension with the United States following the federal prosecution of Raúl Castro in May 2026 for the shooting down of planes from Brothers to the Rescue in 1996.
The case of Ceballos is not isolated. Anyelo Ramírez Martínez, 24 years old, was arrested in March after filming authorities erasing anti-government graffiti, and his trial begins this week with the prosecution seeking four years in prison. Influencer Anna Bensi, 21 years old, was placed under house arrest in March and deprived of internet access for posting critical videos about Cuban communist society.
In his pre-recorded video, Ceballos delivered a message about the Cuban political prisoners that summarizes the reach of his denunciation: "Do not let them die, do not let them be forgotten, and we must fight this battle."
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