The Cuban opposition leader Guillermo «Coco» Fariñas Hernández was detained this Monday in Santa Clara when he went to the Third Station of the National Revolutionary Police to show solidarity with the political prisoner Andy García Lorenzo, who was being held at that same facility.
The information was shared by journalist Camila Acosta on her social media.
According to Tayri Lorenzo Prado, Fariñas not only went to support García Lorenzo but also took an openly defiant stance against the authorities: "He himself asked to be locked up with Andy," which led to his own arrest.
Andy García Lorenzo had been arrested the previous evening in the 2da de la Vigía area, according to reports from his sister Roxana García Lorenzo, who claimed he was detained simply for "walking and recording in the street" with his mobile phone. An officer informed the family that he would be held for 24 hours for alleged "public disorder," and he was transferred to the same Third Unit of the National Revolutionary Police.
García Lorenzo is a political prisoner from the protests of July 11, 2021 in Santa Clara, sentenced to four years in prison for contempt, public disorder, and assault, and released in July 2025 after fully serving his sentence in Guamajal prison, where he reported abuse and conducted hunger strikes.
His new arrest occurs in a context of systematic harassment. In June 2026, State Security had already summoned him and threatened him with sentences ranging from 10 to 30 years, life imprisonment, or even the death penalty, invoking Article 116 of the Penal Code on espionage, if he published images of military facilities or shared information with the outside world.
Coco Fariñas is one of the Cuban dissidents with the greatest international recognition. He is the general coordinator of the United Antitotalitarian Forum (FANTU) and winner of the Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament in 2010. He has led more than 25 hunger strikes and has spent over 14 years in prison across three convictions.
The simultaneous detention of both opponents at the same police station in Santa Clara illustrates the repressive pattern of the Cuban regime against those who attempt to show solidarity with one another, a mechanism aimed at isolating activists and discouraging any public displays of support.
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