The youth collective 'Fuera de la Caja Cuba' revealed this Monday that during the police summons of two of its members, State Security agents warned them that even uttering the phrase "how long?" could constitute a crime of incitement.
The report, published on the official account of the collective on X, reveals the extent to which the regime has criminalized the most basic expression of citizen discontent and fearfully pursues anyone who raises their voice to denounce its wicked desire to remain in power.
"One of the things that shocked us the most in the summons of Betty and Abel was the warning that even a 'until when?' could be considered a crime for alleged incitement. In the minds of the oppressors, there is no logic. Freedom of expression is a utopia," the collective wrote.
The individuals in question are Amanda Beatriz Andrés Navarro ("Betty") and Abel Alejandro Andrés Navarro, siblings and members of the group, detained for more than eight hours on July 2 at the National Revolutionary Police unit on Aguilera Street, in the 10 de Octubre municipality, Havana— a duration that the collective itself reported as exceeding the legal limit.
On the same day, in an operation that the group described as coordinated, Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente and Pastor Rolando Pérez Lora were also summoned to the Alamar station, with the apparent aim of preventing the activists from attending a celebration at the residence of the Chief of Mission of the United States Embassy, Mike Hammer.
During the interrogations, possible charges were mentioned such as "incitement to commit a crime," "defamation," and "denigration of heroes." The harassment did not stop there: in mid-July, a State Security agent threatened Abel again, the same official who had interrogated him weeks earlier.
The warning regarding the phrase «how long?» is not a minor detail. That question is massively repeated in the comments and posts of Cubans on social media, as an expression of frustration over prolonged blackouts, shortages, and the widespread deterioration of living conditions.
The Cuban Observatory of Conflicts recorded 107 street protests in June 2026 — the highest monthly figure recorded to date, with 82 occurring only in Havana — and over 1,400 expressions of conflict in July, including 72 in-person protests.
Outside the Box Cuba emerged in January 2026 in the Cerro municipality of Havana, founded by four young individuals around twenty years old: Karel Daniel Hernández Bosques, Amanda Beatriz Andrés Navarro, Abel Alejandro Andrés Navarro, and Mauro Reigos Pérez.
They use art, theater, and videos on social media to promote critical thinking and challenge state indoctrination, identifiable by their red hats with the slogan «Make Cuba Great Again».
Since their emergence, they have faced an escalation of reprisals: phone disabling in March, family summons in April, and prolonged interrogations in July. In May, Mike Hammer met with members of the group, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed public support for them, which raised their international profile and seemingly intensified the regime's pressure.
The legal framework supporting these threats is the Cuban Penal Code of 2022, whose Article 268.1 punishes public incitement to commit a crime with penalties ranging from six months to one year, increased when social media is used. Meanwhile, Article 124 penalizes propaganda against the constitutional order with up to ten years in prison.
Amnesty International warned that this code consolidates severe restrictions on freedom of expression and allows for the criminalization of critical content on social media.
In the responses to the collective's post, a user summarized the mood of many: "Then let's make it viral. Let's do everything that annoys the dictatorship, which is almost everything."
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