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The mother of the Cuban content creator Eduardo Ceballos, known for his satirical channel Despingovery Channel, reported that her son could face up to 30 years in prison after being accused of espionage by the regime authorities.
Marieta Pérez Alfaro recounted the impact of seeing her son detained at the Combined Eastern High Security Penitentiary, to which he was transferred on June 5th.
"When I saw my son come in wearing that strange, oversized shirt, with his arms bare, because my son is small, and shaved... after going through so much just to see him there... it was truly emotional," she declared from Cuba to Telemundo 51.
Ceballos was arrested on June 1 during a police operation in the municipality of Diez de Octubre, Havana, without the agents allowing him to enter his house or notify his wife.
The trigger was the publication on Instagram of a video in which he explored an old military installation in Havana with Soviet missiles from the 1960s, along with radars and bunkers from the Cold War, which the creator himself described as seemingly abandoned.
Authorities initially informed the family that he would be prosecuted for "invasion of military property." However, the human rights organization Cubalex reported that this charge does not exist either in the current Penal Code or in the Military Penal Code in Cuba, and described the detention as a "flagrant violation of the principle of legality."
It is now known that the young man could be tried by a military court for "revealing secrets related to State Security," a crime that carries penalties of up to 30 years.
For her mother, the escalation of charges has no other explanation than the regime's desire to silence him. "The fact that they are taking this to extreme levels, accusing him of espionage, confirms that they want to silence him, they want to use him as an example," she stated.
Marieta Pérez Alfaro concluded her testimony with the words she said to her son when saying goodbye in prison: "Many times during his career he asked me if I was proud, and I always told him, 'You're doing well, but you're missing something.' This time, when I went to see him and we said goodbye, I told him, 'Now I am very proud.' Those were our last words."
Ceballos had predicted his arrest weeks in advance by recording a preventive video with instructions to make it public if he were detained. In it, he stated: "If you are watching this video, it unfortunately means that I have been imprisoned, separated from my home, my family, my daughter, once again showcasing the true nature of the Cuban government."
After days of efforts, only the influencer's mother and wife, Daniela, were able to visit him at Combinado del Este; his father had to stay outside. Marieta recounted that her son described the prison as "the antechamber of hell, a place of much suffering."
Despingovery Channel went viral in April 2025 for its parodies in the style of nature documentaries, in which Ceballos narrated with a pseudoscientific tone about the potholes, destroyed streets, and ruins of Havana. Since April 2026, it has also collaborated with the independent Cuban outlet CubaNet.
The case falls within a pattern of increasing repression against digital creators.
Reporters Without Borders ranks Cuba 160th out of 180 countries in its 2026 World Press Freedom Index, making it the second worst country in the Americas. The Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press documented 1,188 violations of freedom of expression in Cuba during 2025, an increase of 54.7% compared to the previous year.
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