The independent journalist José Antonio López Piña was arrested, beaten, and threatened with death by police and State Security agents on July 18 in Santiago de Cuba while filming on a street in the city, as the journalist himself reported.
According to his testimony, five police officers physically attacked him in broad daylight. The photographs released following the incident show an open and bleeding wound on the top of his head, with visible traces of blood on his scalp.
After the assault, López Piña was taken to the police unit known as El Palacete, where he was in the hands of officials from the Technical Department of Investigations (DTI). "I was filming in the street when the police showed up and I was attacked by them. Later, I was taken to the police unit of El Palacete by DTI officials; according to them, they are the group that confronts the counter-revolution. They broke my phone," the journalist recounted.
During the interrogation, a State Security officer identified as Robert was primarily responsible for the threats. "They hit me from the waist down. They threatened me and told me that I was a traitor, that I could face a long prison sentence, and that I should be prepared for whatever could happen to me for continuing this supposedly subversive work," López Piña reported.
The agent warned him that his life "could be at risk given the current situation in the country," and that he and other journalists and activists could remain detained "for an indefinite period" or be tried for alleged treason to the homeland.
The destruction of the mobile phone left the journalist without his main work tool. He is currently communicating with a device borrowed from a friend. López Piña emphasized that this incident is not an isolated one: "I have been suffering several assaults. This year alone, I have been attacked twice."
The history of repression against this communicator dates back to 2019, when he was detained and beaten for participating in a campaign against the constitutional referendum.
After the protests on July 11, 2021, the regime opened a criminal case against him for "incitement to commit a crime" due to the dissemination of images from the demonstrations, a case that remains open. By 2022, he had accumulated more than 25,000 pesos in fines that he considered arbitrary.
In August 2023, agents entered his home without a warrant, dragged him out, beat him, and imposed a fine of 4,120 pesos. In 2024, the organization Cubalex documented that State Security threatened to accuse him of "usurpation of functions" for practicing independent journalism, and by the end of that year, they warned him of a 15-year prison sentence if he did not leave the country. In 2025, a file for "predelict danger" was opened against him.
The attack occurs within the context of a widespread repressive escalation in Cuba: the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights documented nearly 2,000 repressive actions in the first half of 2026, including 257 arbitrary detentions, while the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP) reported at least 47 journalists arrested just in July for covering anti-government protests.
Cuba ranks among the most repressive countries in the hemisphere regarding press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch, which place the island as one of the most hostile environments in the world for those who report outside of the media controlled by the Communist Party.
Related videos:
Filed under: