The historian and philosopher from Matanzas, Alina Bárbara López Hernández, was arrested this Friday when she left her home to participate in her monthly peaceful civic protest at the Parque de la Libertad in Matanzas, where she intended to call for the freedom of Cuban political prisoners.
The news was shared through in the third person —a sign that it was published by someone in his circle— along with a photograph of the monument to José Martí.
"Alina Bárbara López Hernández is detained. Today, as she had announced, she left her home to peacefully exercise her right to protest and demand the freedom of political prisoners. The regime's response has been to detain her," the text states.
The publication adds a note that summarizes the paradox of the moment: "While Cuba is once again plunged into darkness due to the collapse of the National Electric System, those who claim their rights continue to be persecuted for exercising them."
The arrest this Friday coincides with the eighth total collapse of the Cuban electric system this year, which left approximately 9 million people across the island without electricity.
This is not an isolated incident. Since March 2023, López Hernández has staged a civic protest on the 18th of each month at the Parque de la Libertad in Matanzas to demand amnesty for political prisoners and an end to repression. In 2026, the regime has detained her during each of those attempts.
In February, she was held along with activist Leonardo Romero Negrín for about 12 hours. In April, she was kept for almost ten hours at the Playa police station in Matanzas. In June, there was a new ten-hour detention at a police station in the city.
And in July, she was described as "kidnapped" by State Security and taken to an undisclosed location. This Friday's arrest would be the fifth of the year.
The legal context surrounding López Hernández further exacerbates the situation. Since June 18, 2024, the intellectual has been under a precautionary measure of house arrest in the framework of the so-called "case 40", a judicial process she shares with the sociologist Jenny Pantoja Torres on charges of "assault."
The Prosecutor's Office requests four years in prison for López Hernández and three for Pantoja.
Every time she tries to go out to protest, the regime interprets that act as a violation of the protective measure, which serves as an excuse to systematically detain her.
Born in Matanzas in 1965, López Hernández holds a Doctorate in Philosophical Sciences, is a corresponding member of the Academy of History of Cuba and of UNEAC, and is a researcher at Ediciones Matanzas. She won the Juan Marinello National Essay Award in 2008.
Your case falls within a broader context of repression: Prisoners Defenders reported 1,339 political prisoners in Cuba at the end of August, the highest number recorded by that organization since the protests on July 11, 2021.
Of them, 463 were suffering from serious illnesses that the NGO links, among other factors, to malnutrition, abuse, and lack of medical care.
This Friday, State Security also threatened other Cuban activists who were trying to exercise their right to peaceful protest, indicating a day of coordinated repression.
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