The content creator Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente, known as Anna Bensi, summarized in one sentence the message left by the regime agents after being held for nearly 12 hours at a National Revolutionary Police station in Alamar: “In the end, the interrogation can be summed up as shut up or create different content”.
In an interview with Cubanet, published this Saturday, July 5, Bensi recounted that on Friday, July 4, he entered the station at 10 in the morning along with the evangelical pastor Rolando Pérez Lora, known as "Herald of Christ," and did not leave until nine at night.
The interrogation itself lasted about an hour and was conducted by two agents in civilian clothes who identified themselves as "Ernesto" and "Paula." According to the account, the topics were always the same: the embargo, the sanctions against Cuba, and what they referred to as the "interfering Yankee government."
After that initial interrogation, they returned her to the main hall where she sat for hours. Near eight o'clock at night, they took her to "the folder" and forced her to sign a preventive document. An instructor directly threatened her: "You have incited in your videos, and if that incitement results in action, you are committing a crime and we are going to put you in jail."
Bensi left a written record of her position in the document itself: "I, Ana Sofía Benítez Silvente, have never committed a crime of incitement." When she requested a copy, it was denied.
The activist, who suffers from anemia, spent the entire day without proper nourishment. Her mother, Caridad Silvente, was forbidden from approaching to inquire about her after having come a few times to check on her. She was only able to send her a soft drink, some cookies, and a bread.
Bensi was clear about the true purpose of the detention: to prevent him from attending the celebration of July 4th at the residence of the Chargé d'Affaires of the U.S. Embassy, Mike Hammer, where he had a special invitation to play the Cuban national anthem on the piano. "They released me at nine o'clock at night as if to say they were sure I wouldn't be able to go. A total injustice," he declared.
Hammer publicly denounced during the celebration the absences of several activists, naming Yoani Sánchez, Ana Sofía Benítez, and the members of Fuera de la Caja, and described the situation as "unacceptable."
Upon leaving the station, Bensi broke down in tears and was greeted with applause from family, friends, and neighbors. Regarding that moment, she explained: "It was a cry of helplessness, of anger. The entire time I was inside, I felt like I was on high alert, and as I stepped out, I think my body just relaxed."
Pérez Lora, who was also detained and interrogated that same day, described the summons as “a trap, a kidnapping” and revealed that he received an official warning that if he continued "causing public disorder and inciting people to commit crimes," he would be imprisoned.
Bensi's mother, Caridad Silvente, stated that the experience made her stronger: "I feel more empowered to continue with this. This demonstrates that they are a dictatorship, that it is a regime that seeks to overshadow, that tries to silence reality."
Bensi and her mother have been under house arrest since March 25, 2026, accused under Article 393 of the Penal Code for having recorded and disseminated a video in which a MININT agent handed them an irregular summons, an offense in Cuba that can result in a prison sentence of two to five years.
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