Leaving Cuba does not always put an end to the pressures reported in recent years by young people, independent journalists, artists, and activists from the Island.
A report from Ciudadanía y Libertad claims to have documented episodes of what it describes as “transnational repression” against Cubans in at least five countries, through practices ranging from surveillance and threats to discrediting campaigns, physical assaults, and allegedly induced expulsions.
The cases are part of Youth, Power, and Social Networks in Cuba, a study developed from consultations and interviews with young people living both on and off the island, and presented during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The document includes "transnational repression" among the 12 patterns it identifies based on the collected testimonies. Its authors argue that "exile does not interrupt persecution" and claim to have gathered reports of incidents that occurred in at least five countries, although this section does not name the states or individuals involved.
Expulsion from one country and surveillance in another
One of the testimonies collected comes from a Cuban journalist who had legal residency in a South American country. According to the report, he received an expulsion order just a few days after a regional summit held in Havana that was attended by the then head of state of that country.
The journalist stated that he was interrogated by immigration officials using methods he identified as similar to those employed by Cuban State Security. He was ultimately expelled despite having filed appeals against the measure, according to his account.
Ciudadanía y Libertad believes that this episode also had an intimidating effect on other Cubans living in that country. The report includes the question with which one of the participants summarized that fear: “who else is going to speak up after this?”.
The same journalist later recounted incidents of surveillance in another host country. According to his testimony, he was followed and photographed in public places where he worked, and those images later appeared online accompanied by warnings that they knew his location.
The document adds that it was also the target of discrediting campaigns related to aspects of their private life. Citizenship and Freedom presents these episodes as a combination of physical surveillance, public exposure, and digital intimidation.
A journalist reports an assault during his journey through several countries
Another testimony comes from an exiled journalist who, according to the investigation, was denied entry to a Central American country that the report describes as an ally of the Cuban government.
During his stay in another country of transit, the interviewee claimed to have suffered an assassination attempt when he was struck by a motorcycle and stated that he had remained under constant surveillance at his lodging.
The report does not provide elements in that section that allow for independent verification of the authorship or motivation behind the aggression. Ciudadanía y Libertad includes it within the sequence of events reported by the interviewee.
To finally reach a country where he could settle, the journalist had to cross more than ten nations by land, including the Darién jungle, where he claimed to have nearly drowned.
Death threats from local numbers
The pressures would have continued once established in their new country of residence.
The journalist claimed to have received death threats via messages sent from local phone numbers, as well as warnings of beatings to cease his public expressions. He also reported attempts to obtain his address through third parties.
According to his testimony, those episodes coincided with an escalation of reprisals against his mother and brother, who remained in Cuba.
The phenomenon described in the report has a recent precedent in public complaints gathered by CiberCuba. In July, independent journalist José Luis Tan Estrada, who has been in exile in Mexico since late 2024, reported receiving messages sent from fake profiles in which they warned him that they knew his location and threatened him with beatings. Tan Estrada linked those intimidations to his journalistic work on officials in Camagüey.
In that case, the journalist had also reported messages from a Mexican number indicating that they knew his address. The Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP), cited at that time by CiberCuba, had also documented threats against Tan Estrada and pressure on his family members who remained on the island.
Reports of harassment in Europe
The report also includes testimonies from Cubans living in Europe.
In these cases, participants described less visible but persistent forms of pressure, such as intimidating messages sent to private numbers, harassment on social media, and discrediting campaigns.
The family of one of the interviewed young people, who left Cuba as a minor, stated that they avoided making their departure public while crossing a country they considered to be close to the Cuban regime out of fear of potential consequences.
Citizenship and Freedom argues that the combination of episodes described by the participants creates a pattern that includes "physical and digital surveillance, coordinated defamation, death threats, diplomatic efforts to induce expulsions and entry denials, and assaults against physical integrity."
These are conclusions from the organization based on the collected testimonies and do not imply that state responsibility has been legally established in each of the cases.
Discredit as a mechanism to isolate the exile
The study pays special attention to another element: campaigns aimed at discrediting activists and journalists once they are outside of Cuba.
According to testimonies, rumors, attacks on reputation, and questions about personal life would likely result in isolating exiles from their contacts on the island and eroding the credibility of their allegations.
The report links this phenomenon with what it calls "the engineering of distrust": a combination of surveillance, infiltration, defamation, and selective reprisals that, according to its authors, aims to hinder the establishment of networks among individuals with critical positions both inside and outside Cuba.
Citizenship and Freedom calls for an investigation into threats in host countries
Based on these testimonies, Ciudadanía y Libertad recommends that countries receiving Cuban exiles investigate the threats, acts of surveillance, and assaults reported in their territories, as well as to establish secure mechanisms for potential victims to report them.
The organization also urges states to avoid migratory, policing, or diplomatic cooperation mechanisms that may facilitate such actions and calls for effective international protection procedures for persecuted youth.
The report also suggests that the United Nations special procedures include Cuban cases in their analyses on exile and transnational repression, and pay specific attention to the youth networks that connect activists within the island with people residing in other countries.
For Citizenship and Freedom, the conclusion from the collected testimonies is that leaving Cuba does not alone guarantee the disappearance of the pressures reported by those who continue to engage in journalism, activism, or political expression from abroad.
The scope and specific responsibility of the described episodes, however, need to be established individually and with additional evidence.
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