The independent journalist Camila Acosta woke up this Saturday besieged at her home by members of the political police, in what has become a systematic pattern of the Cuban regime whenever the anniversary of 11J is commemorated.
Thus, the journalist herself reported on Facebook, where she identified the agent stationed outside her home as Mario Raciel Soulary Garcés, an officer of State Security who has been monitoring her residence for months.
"As has become customary on each anniversary of July 11, today I wake up besieged in my home by members of the political police," Acosta wrote, noting that the photograph she published was taken from a distance but that it is "the same officer from the SE who has been performing the same duties for months."
Soulary Garcés is documented in the public database Cuban Repressors (FHRC) under the category of "Violent," accused of violations of the freedom of opinion, expression, and information as outlined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights had also previously identified him for arbitrarily detaining a citizen who was recording in a public space.
Acosta did not miss the irony of the situation: while millions of Cubans remain without electricity following the second collapse of the National Electric System in less than a week —partly due to a lack of fuel—, the regime has all the resources needed to harass independent media.
"The regime has all the resources for the repression and harassment of the independent press," he wrote.
This fifth anniversary of the 11J arrives in a context of unprecedented repression. Cuba reports between 1,260 and 1,281 political prisoners according to Prisoners Defenders and Justicia 11J, a record number, and at least 338 people remain incarcerated solely for their participation in the 2021 protests.
The April 2026 pardon, which benefitted over 2,000 inmates, explicitly excluded those convicted of "crimes against authority," the category used to criminalize the demonstrators of 11J.
The operation against Acosta this Saturday is not an isolated incident. In May 2026, six people were stationed in front of his house, including uniformed officers and members of the group "Las Marianas."
In June last year, the journalist exposed another State Security agent who was monitoring her home.
In July 2025, agents attempted to intercept the vehicle of the United States Embassy that he was traveling in to prevent him from attending a diplomatic reception.
Acosta was arrested on July 12, 2021, for covering the protests of July 11 and subjected to more than ten months of house arrest on charges of "public disorder" and "incitement to commit a crime."
The case was closed in May 2022 with a fine of 1,000 Cuban pesos. Since then, independent organizations have documented at least nine attacks against her.
Other journalists also reported repressive operations in the days leading up to the anniversary. Yoani Sánchez reported on July 4 a political police operation in the lower levels of her building that prevented her from going outside.
#CubaIsADictatorship and they will not leave power voluntarily," concluded Acosta in her post, in which she also won the Manuel Márquez Sterling Non-Fiction Literature Award in June 2026 for her book Under Siege: Journalism and Resistance in Cuba, a title that takes on a particularly literal significance this Saturday.
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