The political prisoner of 11J, Andy García Lorenzo, has been detained for more than 20 hours at the Third Unit of the National Revolutionary Police of Santa Clara, accused of "public disorder" for recording with his phone in a public space, according to a report by his sister Roxana García Lorenzo on Facebook.
"After more than 20 hours of his detention, my brother Andy Garcia continues to be held captive by state security at the 3rd unit of the PNR in Santa Clara, accused of 'public disorder,'" Roxana wrote this Monday.
The sister was emphatic in denying any connection to a protest: "NO, my brother was NOT at any demonstration; he simply took out his phone to record something in the street, which we still don't know what it was due to the lack of good communication with him."
From the police station, Andy García managed to make a single call to his parents on Sunday to confirm his whereabouts and let them know that he would not be eating during his detention.
"In her call yesterday, she only managed to say where she was and that she would drink water only if it was brought by my parents," Roxana explained, noting that the decision aims to prevent a possible poisoning, as may have already occurred in the past at the hands of the authorities.
His parents stood in front of the Third Unit despite the State Security's request for them to leave, accompanied by friends and family who came to show their support.
A State Security officer had informed the family that García Lorenzo would be held for 24 hours, a period that has now expired without him being released.
"Yesterday they said he would be released in 24 hours; if Andy is not freed in the coming hours, we will keep raising awareness until he is free, because although part of the family is not present in Cuba, don’t forget that he is not alone," warned Roxana.
The detention of Andy García on Sunday on 2da Street in La Vigía occurs just two months after State Security formally threatened him with penalties ranging from 10 to 30 years, life imprisonment, or even the death penalty, citing Article 116 of the Cuban Penal Code on espionage.
The trigger for those threats from State Security against García Lorenzo may have been the dissemination on social media of images of protests with pots and pans in the Condado neighborhood of Santa Clara against the blackouts, which in Villa Clara lasted up to 20 hours a day.
García Lorenzo was arrested during the protests of July 11, 2021 in Santa Clara and sentenced to four years in prison for contempt, public disorder, and assault, despite the prosecution requesting seven years.
He served his sentence in full at the Guamajal prison and was released in July 2025, after conducting several hunger strikes during his incarceration, the longest lasting 16 days in December 2024.
His case falls within a documented pattern of harassment against political prisoners from the 11J: in May 2026, Yoan de la Cruz was arrested again in San Antonio de los Baños, and in July, Leonardo Romero Negrín was violently arrested in Centro Habana.
Justice 11J reported 775 political prisoners in Cuba as of April 18, 2026, with 338 of them linked to the protests of July 11, while Prisoners Defenders raised that number to 1,306 political and conscience prisoners as of June 30, 2026.
"The distance will not prevent complaints from being made and for the world to hear what happens to him," warned Roxana García Lorenzo.
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