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Marieta Pérez Alfaro, mother of the Cuban comedian and content creator Eddy Ceballos —known on social media as "Despingovery"—, published a public message this Friday on Facebook demanding the release of her son, who has been incarcerated for over a month at the Eastern Combined High-Security Penitentiary.
"Eddy Ceballos, Despingovery, is not alone. He is in the thoughts and voices of every dignified person who sees injustice, both inside and outside of Cuba," wrote Pérez Alfaro, accompanying his words with the hashtag #freeEddy.
"The pain of this people cannot be eternal, and the sacrifice of these young people must not be in vain," added the mother, whose post coincided with the release of a video from Cubanet with the subtitle: "Today it is Eddy Ceballos, but tomorrow it could be anyone."
Ceballos was arrested on June 1, 2026 in the Diez de Octubre municipality, Havana, one day after the head of a military unit filed a formal accusation against him.
The trigger was a video published on May 24 on his channel Despingovery Channel, where he explored an abandoned military installation with Soviet missiles from the 1960s, radars, and Cold War bunkers in an advanced state of decay.
His mother has pointed out that the area has no perimeter boundaries or warning signs, that it has been deactivated since 2025, and that children regularly play there.
The initial accusations of "invasion of military property" were dismissed by the legal organization Cubalex and lawyer Alain Santana, who noted that this charge does not exist in the Cuban Penal Code.
The Military Prosecutor's Office reclassified the case under the article 116, section 3 of the Penal Code: “disclosure of secrets related to State Security,” a crime that carries penalties of 10 to 30 years, life imprisonment, or the death penalty.
On June 17, Pérez Alfaro reported that her son was physically assaulted in prison, describing Combinado del Este as "the anteroom of hell."
The case has expanded to other members of the team: the cameraman Christian Rodríguez Riverón was transferred on Wednesday to the facility "El Reloj Club" in Boyeros, Havana, facing similar charges of espionage as Ceballos.
The repressive pattern also affects other digital creators: Andy García Lorenzo, a former political prisoner released in July 2025, was summoned on June 26 by the Unit for Crimes Against State Security in Villa Clara and forced to sign a warning letter, with the case of Ceballos explicitly mentioned as an example of the consequences.
The creator Anna Bensi was also summoned by the Police for an "official warning," as part of the same intimidation strategy against those documenting the country's decline.
By the end of this Friday, the Attorney General had not completed the investigation nor elevated the case to a court, while Pérez Alfaro insists on raising his voice: "We demand our right to a dignified life, to the respect of citizens' rights."
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