The Municipal Popular Tribunal of Habana del Este included a falsehood in its official statement to justify the conviction of Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente —known as Anna Bensi— and her mother Caridad Silvente: it claimed that the video recorded on March 10, 2026 exposed the home address of the MININT agent who came to their house in Alamar. A review of the footage refutes this claim.
The identification card visible in the recording belongs to the sub-official Yoel Leodán Rabaza Ramos (file 2164794) and only includes name, file number, category, physical characteristics, and expiration date. No address field appears on that document. A second identification card seen in the images, belonging to Martín Rodríguez Rodríguez, First Colonel and Second Chief of the Directorate of Staff and Personnel of MININT, also does not contain that information. The court's assertion is, therefore, a falsehood included in an official statement.
It all began when Rabaza Ramos arrived dressed in civilian clothes, wearing a cap and glasses, at both of their homes to deliver a summons from State Security. Caridad Silvente recorded the encounter from the very beginning.
In the video, the agent himself acknowledged that he was not acting on his own initiative: “I have nothing to do with this, but the Security is the one ordering me to summon you for tomorrow at two in the afternoon.”
The summons was fraught with irregularities from the outset: it was delivered with less than 72 hours' notice, referred to a "Captain Alberto" without a surname while the signature belonged to a "Captain Rafael," and the space designated for the reason was left blank.
An officer from State Security who was accompanying Rabaza Ramos remained turned away from the camera throughout the exchange and was waiting outside on a motorcycle without visible license plates.
Caridad Silvente refused to sign the citation but showed up the next day at the Alamar police unit.
The video, shared on social media by Anna Bensi, surpassed 1.7 million views on Facebook and became the basis for the criminal accusation.
The case was initially archived, but it was reopened in July 2026 following a complaint filed by Rabaza Ramos himself, who had previously demanded a public apology in a video to, as Anna Bensi revealed, "restore his reputation."
The trial, presided over by Judge Zamira Marrero Morgado —noted by activists for her involvement in cases related to the events of July 11— took place on October 1 with extremely restricted access.
Only one defense witness was authorized to enter.
Pastor Rolando Fidel Pérez Lora and activist David Espinosa Martínez were detained while on their way to the court.
The court found both guilty and imposed a two-year limitation of freedom on each for "acts against personal and familial privacy," under Article 393 of the Cuban Penal Code.
The organization Cubalex had warned that this provision protects private life, not the official actions of a state official in the exercise of their duties.
Twenty-one-year-old Anna Bensi responded to the verdict with a statement that encapsulated her stance from the beginning of the case: “I know they are trying to find a justified way to come at me. I’m not afraid of them, they don’t intimidate me, and I’m not going to be silent, because I am simply exercising my right to express myself.”
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