The Santiago activist and writer Yasser Sosa Tamayo expressed his support for Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente, better known as Anna Bensi, and her mother, Caridad Silvente, coinciding with the trial that both are facing in Havana for the publication on social media of a video featuring an agent from the Ministry of Interior.
In an extensive reflection published on his Facebook profile, Sosa urged not to leave the mother and daughter alone and suggested that the case transcends the two accused to become, from his perspective, a discussion about fear, silence, and the right to express oneself in Cuba.
"There's something more dangerous than a person speaking the truth: that others become accustomed to seeing them alone for doing so", he wrote.
The activist contrasted the situation of Bensi and Silvente in front of the court with the position of those who observe the process from afar.
«Today Anna Bensi and her mother, Caridad, are before a court. And while they take their place, we take ours: the distance. The screen. The silence.».
Sosa stated that the process raises, in his opinion, a question that affects the entirety of Cuban society: to what extent can silence cease to be prudence and become fear.
"Anna spoke. She recorded what happened. She showed it. And now her voice has to go through a court," she stated.
The writer clarified that his defense of Bensi's right to express himself does not depend on sharing his opinions and argued that freedom of expression would lose its meaning if only those voices with which there is agreement were defended.
“It is necessary to understand that the right to speak cannot depend on whether our opinion aligns with that of the speaker. Because if we only defend the voices that we like, we are not defending freedom. We are defending our own preferences,” he pointed out.
In another part of his message, Sosa Tamayo referred to the support that Anna Bensi and Caridad Silvente have received from churches, religious figures, artists, influencers, and other citizens, but he urged that this support be extended beyond those sectors.
«I would like to hear something much greater: the people. Not the people as a slogan. The true people», he stated, before mentioning those who live in Cuba as well as the Cubans who are outside the island.
The activist insisted that a society is also defined by its reaction when an individual is exposed for publicly expressing their views.
"I don't want our children to learn that there are truths they must swallow whole in order to sleep peacefully. I don't want a camera to be more dangerous than what it records. I don't want saying 'this happened' to end up becoming an achievement," he wrote.
His message concluded with a direct exhortation to Bensi: "Anna: speak. No one should convince us that the truth must ask for permission to be heard."
The statement comes amid a growing public mobilization regarding the case against the mother and daughter.
The Western Baptist Convention of Cuba expressed its solidarity with both and demanded respect for due process, freedom of expression, religious freedom, and their dignity, and also assured that it did not want to leave them alone during the judicial process.
The Cuban religious figure Sor Nadieska Almeida also publicly expressed her support and urged others to accompany them with prayer and physical presence. Almeida asked for the support to be visible and highlighted the "nobility and integrity" of both.
Artists, influencers, and other Cuban figures have also spread messages of solidarity with Bensi and her mother in recent hours, amplifying public displays of support surrounding the trial.
Various voices have shared messages and posts calling for attention to the process.
The trial has been set for this Thursday after a hearing originally scheduled for September 17 was postponed.
Bensi and Silvente are accused of "acts against personal and family privacy" after recording and publishing the visit of an agent from the Ministry of the Interior who came to their home to deliver a summons from State Security. Both have been under house arrest and are prohibited from leaving the country since March.
This Thursday, before appearing before the court, Bensi publicly defended her actions again and stated that she and her mother do not consider themselves criminals.
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