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Doris Santiesteban Batista, wife of Ernesto Ricardo Medina and known on social media as «Doris Sant Bat», posted this Thursday on Facebook a public demand for the release of her husband and Kamil Zayas Pérez, the two creators of the independent audiovisual project El4tico, who have been detained in Holguín for more than four and a half months without a trial or sentence being issued.
"Today I raise my voice for Ernesto Ricardo Medina and Kamil Zayas, young Cubans from the audiovisual project El4tico who have been imprisoned for months for thinking, questioning, and speaking," Doris wrote in her post, which is circulating under the hashtags #FreeEl4tico and #LibertadParaKamilYErnesto.
Both young individuals were arrested in the early hours of February 6, 2026 during an operation by State Security that raided their premises and confiscated all their production equipment: laptop, camera, mobile phone, tripod, and router.
The Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Holguín charged them with the crimes of "propaganda against the constitutional order" and "incitement to commit crimes," charges that can carry up to nine years in prison and that the Cuban regime uses recurrently to criminalize freedom of expression in the digital space.
A habeas corpus petition filed in his favor was rejected by the Provincial Court of Holguín, which also extended the provisional detention, as confirmed by the Holguín Prosecutor's Office in February.
Doris focused her statement on three arguments that she repeated as a declaration of principles: "Because recording a video is not a crime. Because independent thought cannot be treated as a threat. Because Cuba needs free voices, not young people imprisoned for speaking the truth."
It's not the first time that Medina's wife has raised her voice publicly. On June 12, she shared on Facebook the heartbreaking question from her daughter Emma during a visit to the prison: "Mom, why is dad in prison?"
On that occasion, Doris wrote: "I don't have a clear answer to Emma's question because she doesn't have one. How can I tell my daughter that her dad is in prison for expressing what he feels?"
The resistance within the prison has also been documented. After 72 days of detention, Ernesto Medina refused to sign a confession demanded by State Security agents, according to a letter shared by his mother, who publicly asked: “Our president says that there are no political prisoners in Cuba, so what is he being accused of?”.
On June 9, Kamil Zayas Pérez managed to send a handwritten statement from prison in which he urged: "The dignified Cuban, who is not afraid to speak his mind, should not take a step backward in this hour of true men."
The case has generated sustained international pressure. The Committee to Protect Journalists, the Inter-American Press Association, the United States Department of State, and Amnesty International have called for the immediate release of both young individuals and condemned their detention as an act of repression against freedom of expression.
The El4tico project, based in Holguín, was known for its sociopolitical analysis videos that challenged the management of the Cuban government and dismantled official narratives, boasting thousands of followers online before the February operation silenced its activities.
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